Good grief.
The 2024 season was a weird one for the Seattle Seahawks. The team won 10 games, and they were the only team to win that many and not make the playoffs. Seattle also started 3-0 and led the NFC West by two games, but lost five of six and spent some time in last place. A strong finish got the team to finish second in the division, but any playoff hopes were dashed before the final game of the season.
Head coach Mike Macdonald appeared to get the defense to a point where it would be playoff-worthy, but it took until midway through the season to do so. Still, his second-half direction implies the 2025 defense might start off at a high level. The only thing left is for the offense to catch up and maybe it does under new offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak.
To be sure, though, Seattle plays in a tough division where the best roster in the NFC West, when healthy, suffered a multitude of injuries this season. This means the team should be better next year. That, of course, is the San Francisco 49ers.
One pundit says Seattle Seahawks have little chance to reach a championship level next season
The NFL is supposed to be tough, of course. The Seahawks will probably battle the 49ers and Los Angeles Rams for a playoff spot next season. Does Seattle have a realistic chance to get there? One NFL analyst thinks the Seahawks have no chance.
In a recent ranking by Bleacher Report's Brad Gagnon, Seattle is among the group titled "Extreme long shots" of non-playoff teams this season to reach the Super Bowl next year. In fact, Seattle is last in its group which means they are very close to being in a group called "No chance in Hell" of reaching the championship game.
That seems exceedingly harsh as Seattle has a talented roster and simply needs a lot better offensive direction to improve. The defense should be better in Year 2 under Macdonald than in 2024. While the offensive line is a huge question mark, the skill position players on offense are not.
Geno Smith is fine, and will likely be better under Kubiak. Jaxon Smith-Njigba's numbers might improve in his third season. DK Metcalf will probably be put in better situations to succeed than he was in 2024 under former OC Ryan Grubb.
Or maybe that is all false hope. Maybe the Rams will continue to be better than Seattle, and the 49ers will get back to being so as well. The Seahawks could make the playoffs even finishing third in the NFC West in 2025, but that kind of finish probably will still be underperforming in the eyes of many 12s.
