4 winners and losers from Seattle Seahawks meltdown versus Ravens Week 9

Loser No. 3 - Head coach Pete Carroll

I realize that a knee-jerk reaction to one game is easy to do when it comes to the NFL as there are only 17 games and each game is magnified. I am also not going to suggest that Pete Carroll be fired because that would be stupid. Carroll has been the most successful head coach in Seahawks history and his teams like playing for him and they normally overachieve. Seattle is also still 5-3 with a decent chance of winning their next two games to go 7-3, but then the trouble begins.

General manager John Schneider and Carroll have done a remarkable job of rebuilding Seattle's roster after the team traded Russell Wilson in the 2022 offseason. The team surprisingly made the postseason last year and many thought the team should make the playoffs again this season, too. But even if the Seahawks begin 7-3, Seattle could very well miss the playoffs.

The issue is that Seattle's current winning record is misleading. Seattle has faced some atrocious teams - Cardinals, Giants, Panthers - and three teams were starting backup quarterbacks. Beginning in Week 12, Seattle will play four straight teams that they likely cannot beat. This is based on how Seattle has played against other good teams this season, and somehow they beat the Detroit Lions in Week 2. But Seattle was beaten by a Bengals team just beginning to find themselves this year and were trounced by the Ravens.

The 49ers (whom Seattle plays in Weeks 12 and 14), Cowboys (Week 13), and the Eagles (Week 15) are all better teams than Seattle so Seattle could be 7-7 after Week 15. Pete Carroll is a good coach, but he is getting older and probably won't coach for a lot more years. He's got a good roster overall, but he's got a problem at quarterback and that could hamper Carroll's hopes of winning another Super Bowl for three more years or so. By that time, Carroll could be watching games instead of standing on the sidelines coaching.

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