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Seahawks Loss Hurts, But 'We'll Dust Ourselves Off' And Move Forward With Two Games Left

The Seahawks lost to the Vikings on Sunday, making their path to the playoffs more difficult with two games left to play.

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In the closing moments of a tightly-contested game, a Seahawks defense that has been so good so many times this season appeared to have made another game-changing play.

With Seattle looking to protect the lead after Geno Smith and the offense led a touchdown drive to take the lead, rookie defensive tackle Byron Murphy II broke through the Vikings offensive line to sack quarterback Sam Darnold. The Vikings were going to be facing third-and-18 with the game on the line, well, it looked that way for a moment at least, until it became evident that Murphy, whose hand caught Darnold's facemask while making the play, was flagged for a penalty, giving the Vikings a first down. On the very next play Darnold hit Justin Jefferson for a 39-yard touchdown that ended up being the game-winning score.

That two play sequence late in a 27-24 Vikings win was a classic reminder of how tight the margins are between winning and losing in the NFL, and too often in this up and down Seahawks season, they haven't been on the right end of those moments. The Seahawks, who are now 8-7 in their first season under Mike Macdonald, have shown a lot of promise and played very well at times, but they've also fallen just short in some critical moments, putting their playoff hopes in jeopardy.

"We could have had a third-and-18 with two downs to go to try and seal it, and all of a sudden two plays later now we're down three," Macdonald said. "So, that's how close we are, but we're not there yet obviously."

With the loss, the Seahawks drop a game behind the Rams in the NFC West standings, and aren't entirely in control of their own destiny thanks to tiebreakers that favor the Rams, who host Seattle in Week 18. Even if the Seahawks beat the Bears on Thursday, they won't be in a win-and-in scenario against the Rams in the season finale if the Rams can beat the Cardinals on Saturday. In a scenario in which the Seahawks win their last two and the Rams beat the Cardinals next week then lose to Seattle, they both would finish 10-7, and would be even on the first three tiebreakers: head-to-head, division record, win-loss percentage in common games and conference record. The next tiebreaker after all of those is strength of victory, and as of now at least, the Rams hold the edge there, though that could possibly change over the next two weeks depending on the outcome of several games.

"The reason their record is what it is and what their record is in one-score games is because they're a good football team," Macdonald said of the 13-2 Vikings. "We hung in there and had an opportunity win the game. We didn't. There are things in all three phases we can do better, but did a lot of great things. Gave ourselves a chance to win. And so we're on a short week, so we've got to go back to work in about an hour. We will be back and rocking. We've got a good plan, but our destiny is not in our hands right now, which is tough. But we still have a ton of football to play for. A break here or there, we're right back in it and rolling. So we'll dust ourselves off, chin up, chest out, and move forward. Onward we go."

It was a pretty somber postgame scene for the Seahawks, who after winning four in a row coming out of the bye, were in control of their own destiny in the NFC West, only to have it slip away with back-to-back home losses, and Macdonald said his team should be hurting after this one.

"You know, it should hurt," he said. "We've worked incredibly hard. We have been through a ton of adversity as a team. We're going to stick together and go back to work. So we're fighting for the right to stay alive, on a short week."

While the Seahawks aren't entirely in control of their destiny, what they do know at this point is that they have to bounce back and take care of business when the play the Bears on Thursday night, otherwise any talk of scoreboard watching on Saturday, or of obscure tiebreaking scenarios, won't make a difference.

"We got to win two, but it starts with one," said quarterback Geno Smith, who threw for 314 yards and three touchdowns, but was also intercepted twice. "We got a tough Chicago team on the road. I know their record isn't the greatest, but if you watch film on those guys they got a tough team ask with a lot of the talent. We got to be ready coming off a short week, traveling on Christmas. Guys got to get their minds right and get ready to go."

Said linebacker Ernest Jones IV, "We've just got to handle our part, which is win out. Then, let the chips fall where they fall. Hopefully, we catch a little luck and we can get in there. But, it's tough in (the locker room)."

"We've got to go in and put it behind us now. We got to get ready for Chicago. On these short weeks, you can't really bask in this, especially when you lose, you can't really bask in the previous game, because in three days we'll be lining up against a whole 'nother team that doesn't care that we just lost the game. For us, the focus is move forward, handle business in Chicago in prime time, and then we'll see what happens with that matchup against the Rams."

Must-see shots of the Seahawks at their Week 16 matchup against the Minnesota Vikings at Lumen Field on Sunday, December 22, 2024.

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