The American football team Seattle Seahawks’ 2023-24 season came to an end on Sunday, 7 January 2024, since they failed to secure the necessary number of victories to qualify for the postseason.
Although they won their final match after a very close battle against the Arizona Cardinals with a scoreline of 21-20, the Seahawks were still in the 3rd position in the National Football Conference Western Division (also known as NFC West).
Therefore, with a total of 9 wins and 8 losses, they could not qualify even for the wild card division, as it was taken by the Los Angeles Rams, who have 10 wins and 7 losses.
This devastating loss of their chance to develop on their last victory carried with it all the predictable sadness and guilt of a season in which the postseason appeared all but inevitable at one time.
The head coach and executive vice president for the Seattle Seahawks, Pete Carroll, described it as “a total crusher,” as it pained the team to think that they only needed one more win to qualify. They also realized that in order to have had the season that they could have had, they needed to secure three more victories to tie with the 49ers.
The top of the NFC West division remains dominated by the San Francisco 49ers, who not only secured 12 wins and 5 losses with their brilliant efforts but also managed to clinch the entire National Football Conference, thereby guaranteeing a spot in the playoffs.
Closing it out with a dub.#GoHawks x @Ticketmaster pic.twitter.com/2qG58q8mzJ
— Seattle Seahawks (@Seahawks) January 8, 2024
A Victory is still A Victory
The Seahawks gave themselves one more taste of success as they knew they were going to embark on an uncertain remainder of the season.
Seattle, who dominated the majority of the second half, stunned Arizona, 21-20, at the State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, by scoring the winning touchdown and two-point conversion with only 1:54 remaining. The game saw the defeat of Arizona thanks to two field goals missed by seasoned player Matt Prater in the last 2:56.
In the moments following Tyler Lockett’s touchdown and two-point conversion on passes from Geno Smith, the Seahawks were allowed to walk off the field for the last time this season while feeling satisfied with their performance.
Head coach Carroll remarked how proud he was of the way the win happened as he felt that they could have really just done one thing for their final match, and that was to go out there and win the football game regardless of what was to follow in their football careers.
After the victory, there was a celebration in which Seattle’s football safety Julian Love gave out cigars to celebrate the birth of his first kid two weeks prior. Carroll joked as he described the locker room’s scent as smelling like “Yogi Berra’s bedroom or something” when he took the platform to address the reporters later in the evening.
Seattle did its part in the end, but it did not receive the push it required as Green Bay defeated Chicago 17–9 to secure the seventh and final NFC playoff spot.
Right before Prater missed the first of his two field goals, which would have led to a win for the Arizona Cardinals, victory was kind of secured by the Seattle Seahawks.
A Seahawks football team that had punted on its previous four second-half drives suddenly showed new energy, moving 67 yards in four plays, with Smith finding Lockett for the score on a play that ended just after the two-minute warning timeout at 34 yards away.
Future Plans for Seahawks
The excitement created by a 5-2 start of the season that had the Seahawks leading the NFC West going into November was slowly washed away by a 4-6 losing run over the last ten games, even if you include Sunday’s victory.
Carroll, however, emphasized the good things much of the time after, expressing how he is at a loss for words due to the mixed feelings of a victory but a loss, but he is sure of one thing, and that is that he adores this team and the style of play of the Seahawks.
He remarked that they possess the ability to keep coming back, and they do not “stop believing” even in the low times as the Seahawks adhere to the core of the tasks they want to achieve.
