The 10-7 Seattle Seahawks ended the season on a positive note beating their hated rivals the 10-7 Los Angeles Rams 30-25 at SoFi Stadium on Sunday. Although the game had no playoff implications, the win ensured the Seahawks their first double-digit win season since 2020.
The key to Seattle’s victory was the balanced offensive attack and their ability to protect the quarterback, which was troublesome all year. For the second straight week, the running back tandem of Zach Charbonnet and Kenny McIntosh rushed for over 100 yards, averaging five yards per carry. Geno Smith was 20 for 27 for 223 yards and threw for a career-high four touchdowns.
“Yeah, winning games, that’s the most important thing. Personal stats aren’t a big deal for me. I’m not out here chasing accolades. I want to win, and I want to win for the guys in that locker room,” Smith said about his desire to win. “I want to win for the coaching staff. I want to win for our front office and all the people who work in our kitchen staff, our strength staff, and all the people that work so hard man. They deserve to have the best.”
“For me,” Smith added, “I expect to do well, but again, it’s a team game, and I just want to be there for my teammates.”
The defense held the Rams in check for most of the game before giving up the lead briefly in the 4th quarter, 25-24. Smith’s fourth touchdown pass to veteran tight end Noah Fant enabled the Seahawks to pull ahead 30-25 with four minutes remaining. The Seahawks sealed the victory, by forcing the Rams to turn the ball over on downs.
Not surprisingly, Leonard Williams led the way. Fresh off his all-pro snub, Williams had a tackle for loss and two sacks, giving him eleven for the season. He is the first Seahawks player to record a double-digit sack season for the Seahawks since Jarran Reed and Frank Clark both did it with ten sacks.
“This guy had two sacks. He got eleven on the season,” said head coach Macdonald after presenting a game ball to Williams. “He should be first-team all-pro. Should be a pro-bowler.”
Of course, the elephant in the room is the Seahawks were able to create all this success against the Rams 2nd string players. This win is not truly indicative of what they would have been able to accomplish against the Rams starters. The true representation of the team. That is not to say the backups weren’t playing hard, but there’s a reason they’re backups. The victory was watered down at best.
Although the Seahawks showed improvement over the season winning six of their last eight games, they fell short of their goal of making the playoffs. Subsequently, some tough decisions had to be made.
After just one season on the job, the Seahawks fired offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb. It appears the performance on Sunday was too little too late.
“We did a lot of great things,” Macdonald said when discussing the reason for Grubb’s firing. “It’s just my vision for our offense was different than where I thought (Grubb) thought it was going. There are tough decisions to make. But the team comes first. We just felt like this was best for the team.”
For those who watched the Seahawks all season, it appears the major philosophical difference was Grubb’s inability to establish the run and maintain offensive balance. If we learned anything about coach Macdonald this year, we see that he’s not afraid to make changes when he sees something that doesn’t fit his vision. Best of luck to coach Grubb and his future endeavors.
The rebuild continues, and there will be more tough decisions to make. The future of Tyler Lockett, D.K. Metcalf, and Geno Smith most likely will be their highest priorities, but adding depth at the linebacker position and rebuilding the offensive line through the draft is not far behind. There are more questions than answers with regard to the future success of the franchise, but I think the team is headed in the right direction.
Building a winning culture takes time and patience, but also it takes conviction in your beliefs. Coach Macdonald and the Seahawk’s front office have demonstrated they are willing to meet the challenge head-on and will not waver from their ideology. For the 12’s sake, I hope they’re right.
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