Seahawks face an uncomfortable truth after Week 12 victory over the Cardinals

Just a few weeks ago, the Seattle Seahawks season looked sunk. The team had started well by winning their first three games but then went on a skid of losing five of six. The team had a first-year head coach - his first season being a head coach anywhere - and there was no evidence he knew how to turn the team back around. The 2025 offseason could not get here fast enough.

Now, things have seemingly changed. Seattle came back from its Week 10 bye week, in which they saw their starting center retire and released a starting linebacker, and defeated a San Francisco 49ers team they had not beaten since 2021. They followed that up by beating the Arizona Cardinals, and now Seattle is back in first place in the NFC West.

While the season has been a roller coaster for both the team and 12s, one might also wonder that if some personnel decisions had been different from the beginning of the season, the year might have gone more smoothly. The roster was put together by general manager John Schneider (he makes all the final roster decisions), and head coach Mike Macdonald has to take the pieces and make the puzzle.

When Seattle was losing all those games, Schneider's offseason decisions looked awful. 12s might have rightfully assumed that Macdonald's defense would be good because his scheme had worked with the Baltimore Ravens, but in Seattle, the defense was terrible. Based on the last few games, including a loss to the Los Angeles Rams when the defense played well enough, the right players were on the team all along, but Macdonald's coaching staff had chosen not to use them.

In other words, the uncomfortable truth behind Seattle's current 6-5 record is that maybe things would have been even better had the personnel been slightly different. Next season, no matter how this one turns out, Macdonald and his staff need to make better personnel decisions before the season starts.

One player, in particular, is center Olu Oluwatimi. He was highly successful in college but was not given much of a chance to play as a rookie in 2023. Before this season began, Seattle signed Connor Williams who wasn't very good until he retired during the bye week. Oluwatimi has played in the last two games and has been much better.

Safety Coby Bryant has long been liked by the Seahawks coaching staff, even when Pete Carroll was running the team, but he was a consistent backup when healthy. This season, Seattle started veteran Rayshawn Jenkins after he was signed as a free agent this past offseason, and Jenkins was bad in coverage and not a great tackler. He was injured in Week 6, though, and Bryant replaced him.

Bryant has helped solidify the backend of Seattle's defense. Teamed with Julian Love, the two players have been one of the better safety duos in the NFL over the last few weeks. Bryant had a 69-yard touchdown return after intercepting the ball in Week 12. He is the kind of ball-hawk Seattle has been missing.

Schneider shipped Mike Jackson to the Carolina Panthers in a preseason trade and Jackson has been decent with Carolina just as he was decent with Seattle in recent seasons. Tre Brown started in place of Jackson, and Brown was fairly terrible.

After getting hurt, Seattle put Josh Jobe in for Brown and Brown was not able to get his starting gig back. Jobe, who has been in the league for a bit but was on the Seahawks practice squad this year, has been much better than Brown was after Jobe was elevated to the active roster.

This is all good news, really. Due in part to the recent personnel changes, Seattle's defense, especially, has been much better. A season that looked lost now has Seattle hoping for the playoffs again.