I was never much of a Charlie Brown guy. I would watch it now and then out of pure boredom, and somehow became more bored during the show. Some of the characters were memorable, though. Linus, with his blanket. Schroeder, with his tiny piano. One recurring bit involved Lucy holding a football for Charlie Brown to placekick. Charlie would measure his steps and run as fast as he could toward the ball, with visions of a booming kick. Time after time, Lucy would pull the ball away at the last moment and Charlie Brown would swing his foot at the air and fall on his back. It was a cruel prank. Lucy an easy character to dislike. But what of Charlie Brown? Do we celebrate the endless renewal of innocence, faith in his friend, and visions of an exciting future, or do we question the intelligence of someone who is so easily fooled time and again? This Seahawks fan has played the role of Charlie Brown countless times over the past 40 years. There have been moments where that faith and hope proved well founded and the feeling of foot-to-ball was everything one could imagine. Not on this night, however. The Seahawks were somewhere between Lucy, fooling me yet again, and Pig-Pen, covered in dust and grime. The end result was worse than boredom.
Seattle had multiple moments this season where they had built a resume that warranted an interview for a spot on a higher level of the NFL hierarchy. They were 3-0, going into a Monday Night Football game in Detroit. They got healthy and looked like they may have turned things around against the Falcons before returning home to face a Bills team. They won four straight, and played some of the best defense in the NFL for five weeks, before hosting the Packers on Sunday Night Football.
It is a problem that they lost each of those games. The much larger issue is they embarrassed themselves each time. Even more problematic was having the defense not show up in any of those games for a team led by a defensive head coach.
Part of the advantage of having a great defensive team is that no game should be out of reach. This crew felt like it was becoming worthy of being called, “great,” as players at every level were ascending and impacting the game. To see the Packers come into Seattle, win the coin toss, choose to take the football, and proceed to dominate that defense for four straight drives was a gut punch.
Green Bay called your biggest bullies out for a fight, and left them resembling the characters from Step Brothers, who were tortured on the playground. Hope tends to disappear when the best you have to offer is nowhere close to good enough.
The offense needed to respond. They have struggled for many weeks before finding something that felt like a seed sprouting the last couple of weeks with improved line play and an emerging run game. That seedling proved incapable of shouldering the load. One of the worst pass rushes in the NFL was made to look like the Michael Strahan Giants all night.
Geno Smith was under instant pressure, and it was coming from players beating the Seahawks best linemen. Abe Lucas and Charles Cross had sobering nights. Promising rookie Sataoa Laumea struggled as well. They lost starting center Olu Oluwatimi and had to insert undrafted free agent Jalen Sundell.
If the play of the defense and offense wasn’t catastrophic enough, a low hit on Smith injured his knee and he was unable to return. Every Smith hater leaned forward in their chair as their savior Sam Howell entered the field. It did not take long for them to slide back and cover their faces. Howell managed a remarkable 1.7 yards per throw on 14 attempts, while being sacked 4 times and throwing an interception. Smith’s worst games look like vintage Joe Montana in comparison.
This game felt like the end of the Ryan Grubb era in Seattle. Macdonald was quick call out himself and his coaching staff for having a bad plan in this game. He said all the right things about it being his responsibility. I sensed frustration with the offensive game plan. The contrast between a Packers team that ran the ball down the Seahawks throats and a Seahawks offense that barely attempted to run despite gaining close to 5 yards per carry early on, had to get under Macdonald’s skin.
There was a 3rd and 4 pass on the first drive that resulted in a sack. There was a 3rd and 2 on the next drive that resulted in another sack. That was a drive that included a 16 yard run by Zach Charbonnet. The next drive had a 3rd and 4, with another pass (complete to Jake Bobo), a 3rd and 2 pass (incomplete to Charbonnet, but penalty for a 1st down), a 3rd and 3 pass (Smith scrambled for a 1st down), and then three straight passes in the red zone at the Packers 13-yard line.
That is not the team Macdonald wants Seattle to be. If you are going to go down, you want the opponent to feel some bruises in the fight. Grubb was dealt a tough hand with this offensive line personnel. That does not excuse the a lack of willingness to run the football. He is making choices that may seem tactically correct from where he sits, but are stunting the growth of the offense. The run game is arguably the most important aspect of this team they need to develop the rest of this season, and that will not happen if the OC constantly avoids utilizing it.
Every aspect of this team, save Jaxon Smith-Njigba, that had become so promising the past few weeks, left this game looking hollow. The defense did right the ship in the second half, holding the Packers to a field goal until Howell’s interception led to a touchdown. Leonard Williams and Dre’Mont Jones and Ernest Jones had some moments. Riq Woolen was inexcusably bad in this game. He is too talented to panic and allow a cheap pass interference penalty. He is too talented to allow a pass to sail over his head because he misjudges the flight of the ball and the timing of his leap. This defense is built, in part, with the idea that he is a lockdown corner. He did not come close to living up to that in this game.
It will not get easier the rest of the way. Minnesota comes to town with a defense that is far more fierce than the Packers. Even if Smith is able to play, he will likely be limited in mobility. Maybe that will force Grubb to really lean into the run game. The defense will need to be spectacular and close to flawless to win. If Smith is out, the bar goes even higher. This season has never been about winning a Super Bowl or a deep playoff run. There was a moment where they had earned the right to be talking about division titles and playoff seeding. That moment has passed. While those possibilities still remain, the larger priorities are developing the players and identity that can form a foundation of contending next year. Macdonald needs to finish the season strong on defense and the run game must be a focal point on offense. As painful as every pratfall has been, the only choice for the team and for fans is to line up for another run at it, and hope there is a point in the future where we don’t all end up on our backs.
