Seahawks comeback falls short versus Packers and season ends

The Seahawks were down 21-6 at halftime but like Seattle does they came back. But Seattle ran out of time and lost to the Packers in the divisional round.

The Seahawks season came to an end on Sunday with a loss to the Packers in Green Bay in the divisional round of the 2019 playoffs. Seattle lost 28-23. I could spend your time with this article venting about Seattle’s slow start, the bad officiating overall but especially in the first half and an utter lack of preparation defensively to find a way to cover Packers receiver Davante Adams. But I do not want to.

There were other things that Seattle could have done better, like possibly stop the Packers on third down sometimes. Green Bay went 9-14 on third downs. But Seattle came into the game an injured unit and should be remembered as a team that battled to the very end. The Seahawks lost their best tight end early in the year in Will Dissly, who at the time was also their second best receiver.

Seattle also lost all their top running backs and two-fifths of their offensive line. Still, this team never quit. Even down 21-3 and looking a bit lost they continued to try to find a way to win. And they almost did just that in the second half.

Russell Wilson led his team to three straight touchdown drives and might have made it four straight if not for an atrocious drop by receiver Malik Turner that would have been a first down. On the drive, Seattle’s final drive of the game, Wilson ended up getting sacked on third down and forced Seattle to punt.

This was a team that could not afford key mistakes liked dropped passes and did its best to avoid them. Seattle may have lost to the Packers on Sunday but Seattle outgained Green Bay (375 to 344), kept the ball longer, actually outrushed the Packers (thanks to Wilson) and threw for more yards. Neither team turned the ball over.

Maybe the Seahawks did lose to Green Bay, but they still are a team 12s can be proud of because this game might have been different had they had Chris Carson and Will Dissly and Justin Britt.  Seattle has the offseason to work out some important issues. These include trying to re-sign Jadeveon Clowney and getting Clowney some help as well, possibly trying to find a replacement for Tre Flowers who got worse as the season went on and finding offensive line help.

I could spend the offseason writing about how the Packers scored a touchdown that wasn’t as their running back was really short of the end zone in the first half, but maybe the Packers score on the next play. Or about how Jimmy Graham was short of the first down line at the end of the game but maybe the Packers go for it on 4th and inches and get a first anyway.

But I won’t, because next year could be even better for Seattle. Russell Wilson returns, so does Bobby Wagner. There is a lot of young talent on the field, like D.K. Metcalf. (Marshawn Lynch won’t be back, but wasn’t it great to see him score twice against the Packers?) With a good draft, the Seahawks could be back in the Super Bowl next year or the year after. Maybe both. Anything is possible with this team.