“Turn out the lights, the party's over.” The legendary tunes made famous in NFL lore by the late Dandy Don Meredith immediately came into my head as soon as Najee Harris slid just before the goal line, delivering a devastating blow to the Seattle Seahawks in a 30-23 victory for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
In what was essentially a must-win home game for the Seattle Seahawks, turned into one of the most embarrassing performances in the Pete Carroll era. Against a 3rd string quarterback and one of the worst offenses in the NFL, the Seahawks defense, Pete Carroll’s 14th defense in Seattle, gave up 468 yards, including 202 yards rushing and a whopping 25 first downs. The Steelers held the ball for literally over a quarter of the game longer than the Seahawks. This loss was not just disgusting but was historic.
Knowing the Steelers were extremely limited and reliant on the running game, the Seahawks still couldn't stop them. The Steelers ran for 132 yards after contact, the second most given up by the Seahawks since 2009. Leaving the game, the Seahawks now boast the 24th-ranked defense in scoring, the 27th in total yards allowed, and the 29th in rushing yards allowed. These are the worst numbers for the Seahawks since 2011.
The Seattle Seahawks and Pete Carroll era could be coming to a close
It wasn't just the statistical domination, the Seahawks were absolutely punked and bullied by Mike Tomlin and (checks notes) the 27th ranked offense in football! I have never seen so many missed tackles in my life at a Seahawks game. Harris and Jaylen Warren ran around, past and through the Seattle defense for three hours in front of 70,000 fans. Riq Woolen, Devon Witherspoon, and multiple others on the defensive side will wake up tomorrow morning with bruised chests and egos after physical ass-whooping Pittsburgh brought to Seattle.
This team played soft in Week 17 and deserves that title of shame. Seahawks fans long for the days of toughness and nastiness that guys like Kam Chancellor and Max Unger brought every week. Teams used to fear Seattle. Now, they're licking their chops.
No matter what happens next week, something needs to change.
Ok, we got embarrassed, but we're not technically dead (just in spirit)
With Green Bay’s win over Minnesota, the Seahawks no longer control their destiny. They will need to travel to Arizona and take on a suddenly resurgent Cardinals team that, if we're being honest, will probably run for 200 yards again on this Seahawks' defense. If Seattle manages to pull out a road victory, they will need the Packers to lose at home to the Chicago Bears, a team that Green Bay has defeated 9 straight times.
Maybe there's some 2022-2023 Detroit Lions magic in Chicago for Week 18, but I'm not betting on it and I don't think it really matters. If Seattle were to get the lucky lottery ticket again, they'd travel to Dallas to take on the Cowboys in a 2 versus 7 matchup. Seattle arguably played their best game of the year against Dallas a month ago and still lost.
While I'd be happy and excited to see the Seahawks play one more game again this season, we all know that Seattle would be massive underdogs. If they win, their reward is a 7th straight beat down from the 49ers in the Divisional Round. Is that really growth? This year was supposed to be a jump, and yet Seattle is almost identically in the same spot as last season. An extra playoff appearance does not help this franchise get out of the rut that they are so clearly in.
At the end of the day, it felt like a gut wrenching loss on what should be Pete Carroll's final home game.
Com-PETE falling on deaf ears
This wasn't just a game where one team didn't have anything to play for and didn't bring the energy. Pittsburgh and Seattle were both fighting for their playoff lives, and it was clear one team got the message from their Hall of Fame head coach, while the other team looked more interested in whether they were going to Cancun or Maui in January.
I love and respect Pete Carroll. He has brought to Seattle unquestionably the greatest run in Seahawks history. He will go down as a legend and a Hall of Famer. That being said, it is more clear now than ever that his vision, and his voice, have grown stale in the locker room. It feels like it is time for a change, real change.
Mike Shanahan is a two-time Super Bowl champion for the Denver Broncos. A decade after his last title, his voice didn't carry the same weight in Denver, and he was let go. The great Tom Landry fell the same way, and it feels like Bill Belichick is in his final hours with New England. It sucks, but it's a natural part of the game and life.
If you're not constantly winning, which most of these legends had legendary players at premier positions, it is impossible to stay on top, and extremely difficult to even climb your way back to the top. Pete Carroll has proven in life that he can “Win Forever”, but that doesn't mean he should coach forever.
Pete Carroll fought like heck to stay in the hunt
In retrospect, Pete deserves a ton of praise for his ability to survive and persevere. If we're being honest, Pete's best shot at getting back to a Super Bowl died when Earl Thomas broke his leg against Carolina in 2016. That team seemed to have begun getting past the SB49 nightmare and were in a position to grab the 2 seed in an NFC that was ripe for the taking with a top 3 defense before Earl got hurt in week 12.
After, the Seahawks' defense fell off, lost the 2 seed, the bye, and a home divisional game. The result was a beat down at Atlanta to former Defensive Coordinator Dan Quinn, and soon-to-be 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan (with GM John Lynch broadcasting and getting a front-row seat to Shanahan’s brilliance).
That was the last season I truly felt Seattle could go win a championship. Since then, Pete has been scratching and clawing to just get to the playoffs, dealing with a different crisis every year. For almost a decade, Pete has tried and failed to recreate the magic, consistently with the wrong ingredients, while San Francisco and Los Angeles have turned into superpowers multiple times.
After the 2022 offseason where Pete Carroll and John Schneider stated that they needed to get tougher and more talented to catch San Francisco, they failed. Devon Witherspoon and Jaxon Smith-Njigba look like stars, but the rest of the offseason additions have disappointed while also being expensive. They set out to stop the run and have completely fallen on their face. This failure is not just a one-year wonder either.
The defense is not just horrific, it's been flat-out bad for nearly a decade. It's been eight seasons since we've seen a top-10 defense, with our defensive-minded head coach. Clint Hurtt was a head-scratching promotion two years ago and looks like another failure that falls on Pete yet again.
If you think the offense is getting off the hook, don't. They've been equally as disappointing this season. After finishing 9th in the NFL in offense in 2022, the Seahawks have fallen to 18th in points scored and 20th in offensive yards. Shane Waldron is a solid if not great play designer. I almost always am a fan of his play script to start a game and a half. His ability to sequence plays, adjust, and have a lick of awareness? Nah, it's nowhere to be found.
Today, with an injured Kenneth Walker struggling with an aggravated shoulder injury, and his starting center out with a concussion, chose to run a trick play direct snap that killed a drive with Seattle trailing. Three times in the second half, the Seahawks were in a position to score a touchdown, but failed to do so, settling for field goals. He may be a smart guy, and the metrics are solid, but he's not a championship offensive coordinator who can maximize this offense. He should not be brought back next year, and that too falls on Pete Carroll.
In the locker room, the Jamal Adams fiasco, the early DK Metcalf drama, and the legitimate questions about this team's buy-in to Pete have clearly gotten to him. In his weekly radio show and post-practice interviews, Pete has seemed more hostile and dismissive than I've ever seen him. I think he knows that he had a shot at a quick run to being a contender after the successful Russell Wilson trade, but has realized he can't get to some of his players, and that he just can't reignite the fading light that this franchise is clearly feeling.
So what happens now?
Despite all that I have just written, I do not believe firing Pete Carroll is a decision that owner Jody Allen will be willing to make. It may take a season or two more of disappointment before she's willing to pull such a divisive trigger. No, this decision will come down to Pete Carroll, and I think there's a 50/50 shot we see change this offseason.
Pete is currently under contract for two more seasons. While he may believe a championship run can be attained during that short window, this year is an unquestioned disappointment and a title run feels unrealistic without change or a rare draft spark that brings in immediate blue-chip talent.
While fans are mostly split in the “be grateful” or “clean house” camp, I think we may see a little bit of both. From rumors of Pete retiring from multiple media members in Dallas to the way Pete came back out on the field after their last-second win over the Eagles, I think Pete sees the end. While I believe he was hoping to go out with one more glorious playoff battle (which may still happen), another winning season post-Russell Wilson is a respectable moment to step back.
I say step back, not retire because I do not believe Pete Carroll will retire. I believe he will step down from being the head coach, but will remain on as executive vice president. Pete is as much of the Seahawks as the Seahawks are him, and he will not just leave like a band-aid being ripped off. He will still be heavily involved in the roster management and major decisions for the football operations but will spend the next two seasons slowly relinquishing power and responsibilities.
On the roster-building side, this means that John Schneider will have more control and oversight of the franchise. While Pete is technically the boss, we'd probably see a transition where Schneider gained the final say. This would be fascinating to see if we saw any major philosophical changes in terms of free agency and draft decisions.
Maybe one day Schneider will also get to hand-pick his head coach, but I believe Pete’s final autonomous decision will be to hand the coaching reins over to Dan Quinn.
With Quinn, the Seahawks would be hiring arguably the best defensive coordinator in the league, and a man that Carroll trusts and enjoyed his greatest victories with. While he may be a “Pete guy”, there's reason to believe he can bring a different mindset and ability to get the defense back, not just to respectability, but to a dominant form. The question for Quinn will be whether he can find the right coordinator to lead his offense and bring together a complete championship contender.
Russell Wilson’s final game as a Seahawk was a win in the House of Horrors in Glendale, Arizona. It seems fitting that Pete's final game be a potential win in Arizona as well. Pete deserves and will absolutely get a statue outside Lumen Field for all he has done. I just hope he realizes that it is time for someone else to help get the Seahawks back to being their very best.