Seattle Seahawks playoff hopes die in Week 11 loss to Rams: Quick takeaways

The Seattle Seahawks season is likely done. They are now 6-4 with a very real chance of being 6-8 after Week 15. Losing to the Rams twice in a season doesn't bode well for playing the San Francisco 49ers twice, the Dallas Cowboys, and the Philadelphia Eagles, and Seattle winning any of those games.

Honestly, Seattle wasn't going to come close to the Super Bowl anyway. Making the playoffs would be great, but the games are fairly hopeless once there. On the bright side, at least Seattle will get a decent draft pick in the 2024 NFL Draft.

Or maybe I am just being pessimistic, though watching Seattle over the course of the year the above outcome seems logical. Let's hope for 8-9 at this point. Here are three takeaways from the Seahawks 17-16 loss to the Rams in Week 11.

Drew Lock is not the answer for the Seattle Seahawks

How bad was Drew Lock in Week 11? So bad that Seattle had to put an injured Geno Smith - Smith had hurt his throwing arm near the end of the third quarter - back on the field. Smith actually was able to get Seattle closer to making a field goal, but Jason Myers missed a 55-yard try with 8 seconds left. Smith wasn't overly good either, but he was under constant pressure and finished 22 of 34 for 233 yards and a touchdown.

Drew Lock, though, finished 2 of 6 for 3 yards and threw an interception. I know some Lockers out in 12 Land are going to find reasons for Lock not being productive, but just remember he had the same blocking as Smith. Lock isn't good, and Seattle needs to find a new quarterback in 2024.

The defense is nowhere near being a playoff contender

Seattle's defense has been a tale of two halves in almost every game recently. After halftime against the Washington Commanders in Week 10, the Seahawks had shut down the Washington offense pretty well. The same happened against the Rams in Week 11. Los Angeles had 94 total yards and 7 first downs at the half. By the end of the game, LA had 269 total yards and 20 first downs. The Rams got five of those on penalties.

So is the issue the players or the scheme? If other teams go into halftime and adjust and get better and Seattle stays the same, that means pregame preparation is better than in-game adjustments. A good defensive coaching staff can do drive-by-drive adjustments, and the Seahawks are not capable of that.

The officiating was awful but did not affect the outcome

Oh, I can already hear some disagree with me on this. The fact is that while the officiating was horrible - any time 21 flags are accepted in a game part of that problem is the officials being too picky - Seattle's defense could still have gotten stops. Devon Witherspoon was called for a false pass interference, but Seattle's defense could have still stopped the Rams from scoring a touchdown.

More Seattle Seahawks news and analysis