3 nightmare scenarios for the Seattle Seahawks in 2024
By Lee Vowell
No one can be too sure how the Seattle Seahawks 2024 season is going to go. With Pete Carroll in charge for the last 14 years, 12s could assume the team would not be awful. That also led to frustration as the team was no longer a real threat to win a championship either.
Changes needed to be made this offseason, and those changes were made. Carroll and almost all of his coaching staff were relieved of their duties. Seattle hired Mike Macdonald as the new head coach, and Ryan Grubb was named offensive coordinator.
The hope is that with the talent Seattle already had on its roster, the new schemes on offense and defense will allow the talent to be more productive and efficient. Preseason won't tell 12s anything. Seattle is a true unknown in 2024, but these could be the worst-case scenarios.
Nightmare scenario No. 1 - Seattle Seahawks are 2-7 at the bye week
You know the adage, right? On any given Sunday, any NFL team can beat another NFL team. Plus, there is almost always hope a team will exceed expectations before a season starts. In the last two years, Seattle has gone 9-8. Mediocre records, of course, but not bad ones. Seattle plays a third-place schedule in 2024, and while maybe the team's roster is better than in 2023, the other third-place teams from last year might be better too.
Seattle does not have an easy schedule. The first game will feature first-year head coach Mike Macdonald against veteran head coach Sean Payton. Payton's team might be better prepared to challenge Macdonald's defense than Macdonald's team is ready to take advantage of a rookie quarterback potentially starting in Denver.
In Week 2, the Seahawks travel to play the New England Patriots and that should be a win. Then Seattle has back-to-back tough games against the Miami Dolphins and Detroit Lions. The New York Giants might not be great, but they might be starting Drew Lock at quarterback and Lock could be looking for revenge against a Seahawks organization that treated him pretty well.
This is when the real issues arrive. Between Weeks 6 and 9, Seattle plays the San Francisco 49ers, a likely much-improved Falcons team in Atlanta, the Buffalo Bills, and then the Los Angeles Rams. The only games that Seattle should definitely win before the bye week are the ones against the Patriots and Giants. A 2-7 start is certainly possible.