The date was October 11th.
The Seahawks were 2-2 and questions about Seattle's playoff chances ran rampant throughout the league. The team had already lost to the Rams and Packers, and had just barely escaped the "Link" with a win in a Monday Night Football matchup with the Detroit Lions thanks to a controversial call made by the game's referee.
But their next game was a chance to make a statement against one of the league's elite teams in the first quarter of the season. The Cincinnati Bengals were 4-0 and had a red-hot Andy Dalton leading the team. Winning this road game would be a major step in the right direction.
For most of the game, it looked like Seattle would do just that, taking Dalton out of rhythm and taking a 24-7 lead heading into the fourth quarter. But then the Seahawks collapsed completely, giving up 17 points in the fourth quarter and then falling in overtime 23-20. That fourth-quarter meltdown gave skeptics many more doubts about the team's playoff chances.
But not all hope was lost for the Seahawks, who still had a chance to make a statement against another 4-0 team, the Carolina Panthers. Once again, the Seahawks looked like they were on their way to a signature win that could turn around their season. And again, the team fell to one of the league's top tier teams in embarrassing fashion. This time, a late-game TD to Panthers' TE Greg Olsen would seal the Seahawks' fate.
At this point, the two-time NFC champions were 2-3, and they were all but written off this season. With Carolina, Atlanta, Green Bay, Arizona, and Minnesota all flying high and looking like championship contenders, there was going to be no room for the Seahawks in the playoff picture this year.
But then everything changed.
The Packers hit a skid just two weeks later. The Falcons started a monumental slide that would kick them right out of the playoff hunt. And like that, at least one playoff spot had opened up, and the Seahawks looked to be the ones to take that spot.
The team made it known that they were not one to look past, ripping two straight road wins against the 49ers and Cowboys. But this still wasn't the signature win that would silence the naysayers. They had beaten two teams with quarterbacks who had been playing atrociously to that point. If they wanted everyone to know they were looking towards another Super Bowl appearance and their second title in three seasons, they still had to get that season-defining win.
Their Week 10 matchup was the perfect opportunity to do so, with a home date against Carson Palmer and the 7-2 Cardinals on the docket. Despite their best efforts, the team lost a close battle with a now 13-2, red-hot squad.
After another win over the 49ers, the Seahawks had two key games coming up: a Week 12 battle with the Steelers and then a battle with another Wild Card hopeful in the Vikings. The Seahawks overcame an offensive flurry from the Steelers' Ben Roethlisberger and beat the black and yellow 39-30. In the following game against the Vikings, Seahawks QB Russell Wilson continued his great play from the prior week and the team decimated the Vikings 38-7.
Now with two key wins under their belt, the Seahawks were 7-5 and firmly locked into a playoff spot. A win two weeks later against the Browns would be the game that officially put them there. With a playoff spot finally secured, the battle remaining would be one to determine their seeding.
Because of the rival Cardinals' invincibility atop the NFC West, the Seahawks were locked into a Wild Card spot, meaning that they would be guaranteed a road game in the Wild Card Round, facing either the NFC East champion as the #5 seed or the NFC North champion as the #6 seed.
By virtue of the team's loss to the Rams in their most recent game, coupled with the Vikings' win over the New York Giants, the Seahawks currently possess the #6 seed, meaning they would face the winner of the NFC North in the first round of the playoffs. However, the game between the Vikings and Packers (the NFC North title game) next Sunday will determine their seeding. If the Vikings win and take the title, then the Seahawks remain as the #6 seed and face the Vikings in the first round of the playoffs. If the Packers win and hold on to their title, then the Seahawks would reclaim their #5 seeding and face the NFC East champion Washington Redskins in the first round.
Now this is implying that the Seahawks defeat the Cardinals in their matchup next week. If the Seahawks lose, then the Vikings-Packers game will be meaningless to them, as the Seahawks' 9-7 record would be inferior to even the 10-6 record of the loser of the title game.
However, regardless of the team's seeding, they remain a serious playoff threat and could very likely reach yet another Super Bowl.
In the past five weeks, Russell Wilson has played out of his mind, and has been the best quarterback in the league in that stretch, having not tossed an interception between Week 11 and Week 16. Doug Baldwin has finally looked like a #1 receiver after years of doubters pointing to that area as a point of need. The "Legion of Boom", which seemed to be having an identity crisis at the start of the season, started to live up to its name.
Perhaps the only issue facing the Seahawks right now is the absence of a run game. Top running back Marshawn Lynch has missed a large chunk of the season with an abdomen injury. Backup running back and rookie sensation Thomas Rawls was lost to an ankle injury. The team's running back depth has been reduced to veteran Fred Jackson. former seventh-round pick Bryce Brown and former second-round pick Christine Michael. While it's been clear that the Seahawks have turned to a passing game because of this lack of star power, the team may be getting Lynch back soon.
If the Seahawks keep playing the way they have the past month, then there should be no doubt that they could roll through January. Their seeding assures them a date with either the Washington Redskins or the winner of Vikings-Packers, all teams that the Seahawks have beaten in the past two seasons. Should they do so, they will face either one or both of the Cardinals and Panthers on their road to the Super Bowl, again teams that the Seahawks have beaten in the past two years.
A third Super Bowl in as many seasons is not beyond imaginable for Seattle, and with the recent weakness the AFC has shown, neither is the idea of the team winning its second title in three years.
After going from champion to "celebrity quarterback," Russell Wilson is leading his Seahawks on another drive to re-add "champion" to his list of names.
