With 3:56 left in last Sunday's game against the 49ers, the late-afternoon sun falling on Levi's Stadium seemed a fitting metaphor for the Seahawks' season.
Seattle had just turned the ball over on downs when Zach Charbonnet's fourth-and-one plunge at the 49ers' 37-yard line went nowhere.
That followed a Geno Smith sneak on a third-and-one that was also ruled - much to the disagreement of many on the Seahawks sideline - to have gone nowhere.
A couple 49ers first downs and the game would be over. Seattle's season might have gone with it.
Instead, a third-down stop and as efficient of a game-winning drive led by Smith as you'll ever see, and the light returned.
That sequence of events pulled Seattle from being two games back of two other teams in the NFC West - and essentially three back of the 49ers - to tied with the Rams and 49ers at 5-5 and just a game behind 6-4 Arizona.
"We were trying to turn our season around," Smith said afterward.
Now the task: to take proper advantage of that statistically unlikely turn of events.
A script writer could hardly have crafted the story better to now have Arizona coming to Seattle for a 1:25 p.m. game on Sunday at Lumen Field that could move the Seahawks back into first place in the NFC West.
As the Seahawks and Cardinals are kicking off, the 49ers will do the same at Lambeau Field against the Green Bay Packers.
But the 49ers will do so without quarterback Brock Purdy and star pass rusher Nick Bosa, each ruled out due to injury. The losses of those two players propelled the betting line to flip from San Francisco favored by 2.5 when it opened to the Packers favored by as much as six on Saturday afternoon - the first time the 49ers have been an underdog since the 2022 season.
Then in the night game, the Rams host an Eagles team that has won six in a row and is listed as a three-point favorite.
So, to make it simple, a win by Seattle and losses by the 49ers and Rams and the Seahawks will be in first place in the NFC West by the end of the day, holding the tiebreaker for the moment on Arizona.
What a swing that final 3 minutes and 56 seconds may have made in Seattle's season, and in creating an NFC West race that appears as wide open this late in the season as it's been in years.
Coach Mike Macdonald this week didn't shy away from stating how pivotal each week going forward figures to be with each team in the division now having had their bye and seven games remaining.
"Put it this way, look, we've earned the opportunity to be fighting for the lead in the division going into the homestretch," Macdonald said. "So, that's the way we're treating it. It's very much like a playoff mindset for us at this point. (We) can't afford to drop games. You want to have the right to play for these really important games in December and January. You've got to be able to execute and put yourself in that situation. It's basically a December football game."
Smith spoke similarly.
"Anybody can go get this division the last seven games of the season," he said. "So, really it's going feel like playoff games, every single one. The division games are going to feel like you won two games because they're going to matter that much."
Sunday's game may loom even more critical for Seattle and Arizona since the two teams play again in Glendale on Dec. 8. Given that the Cardinals already also have wins over the Rams and 49ers, a win Sunday and possibly moving two games in front of everyone else in the division would put the Cardinals in a pretty firm driver's seat.
But a Seattle win, and the Seahawks may go to Arizona in two weeks with a chance to take control of the division, especially if Seattle can beat a downtrodden Jets team in New York on Dec. 1.
Macdonald and Smith speaking candidly of the stakes at hand Sunday, though, stood in contrast to the Cardinals' approach this week.
"I'm not really looking at it that way," Arizona quarterback Kyler Murray said this week when asked how it feels to play a late-November game with so much on the line. "I'm just taking it one game at a time. I know that the guys are as well, so I think that's the message that we're preaching. No game's bigger than the other. The one that we've got right now is the biggest one. We have to win it."
On paper, though, the game projects as the most important for Arizona since earning its last playoff spot following the 2021 season.
Arizona has won four in a row to move into first - matching its win total for all of last season when the Cardinals went 4-13 in the first season for coach Jonathan Gannon and with Murray held to eight games while recovering from an ACL injury suffered on Dec. 12, 2022.
The Cardinals winning only eight games in the 2022 and 2023 seasons combined, the coaching inexperience of Gannon and some uncertainty about whether Murray could reclaim his pre-injury form had most preseason prognosticators picking Arizona last in the NFC West.
But the return of Murray full-time, another good season from veteran running back James Conner and the addition of first-round pick receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. has led to an improved offense.
And the Arizona defense finally seems to be taking on the personality of Gannon, who got the job after serving as the defensive coordinator for the Eagles team that got to the Super Bowl following the 2022 season, particularly in keeping teams out of the end zone; the Cardinals are ninth in the NFL in red-zone defense, allowing TDs on just 17 of 35 drives inside the 20.
But the Seahawks finally beating the 49ers for the first time since 2021 a week ago, and doing so after a chaotic week that included the surprising retirement of center Connor Williams, has them feeling like anything is possible.
Step one, though, is winning Sunday and snapping a four-game home losing streak.
"These games are going to be so electric," Smith said. "I can't wait to be in the stadium on Sunday. It's going to be so fun. We're looking forward to the fans being there and just going crazy."
Seahawks activate Jenkins, elevate two others
The Seahawks made an expected move Saturday, activating safety Rayshawn Jenkins off injured reserve, filling an opening Seattle had on its 53-man roster. Macdonald said Friday that Jenkins - who had been sidelined with a hand injury - is expected to play against the Cardinals.
Seattle also elevated tight end Tyler Mabry and linebacker Patrick O'Connell off the practice squad for Sunday's game. Mabry adds depth at the tight end spot with Brady Russell (foot) ruled out and Noah Fant (groin) questionable.
O'Connell, a second-year player from Montana, played 10 snaps on special teams last week against the 49ers and will likely fill a similar role against the Cardinals. This is the third elevation for O'Connell, the most that is allowed.
