Field Gulls
The Seattle Seahawks are two wins away from reaching Super Bowl 60 in Santa Clara. One of the teams in their way are the San Francisco 49ers, whose home stadium could soon be where the Seahawks play on Feb. 8 if Seattle takes care of business over the next two weeks.
Throughout the season, the Field Gulls staff has been mostly bullish on Seattle’s chances to make the playoffs and even win the NFC West. Well, they’ve done both and they’ve got the top seed. Now, what lies ahead for Seattle in the postseason? Here’s what the Field Gulls staff thinks.
Mookie Alexander: I think I’ll be the bad guy here. I expect the Seahawks to beat the San Francisco 49ers, albeit not in some blowout fashion as if to suggest we’ll see Week 18 all over again but with the Seahawks finishing their drives with 7s and not 3 or 0. The NFC Championship Game is dependent on who they play. I believe they’d beat the Chicago Bears should the Bears upset the Rams, and subsequently win the Super Bowl against the AFC champion. Unfortunately, I believe Chicago’s Cinderella run is going to run out soon. If the Seahawks have largely looked like the better team over two games against the 49ers, I think the Rams have been the slightly better team over the two Seattle meetings. If I go by what I believe will happen, the Seahawks will make sure those 49ers fans are quiet for another offseason, while they lose the NFC Championship to the Rams, who then lose to the AFC champion in the Super Bowl in a huge upset. It’s the happiest possible outcome should the Seahawks not win the Super Bowl. I think some of Seattle’s bad habits with turnovers will cost them, and the defense’s lack of a truly high-end pass rusher undoes them vs. Matthew Stafford. It’ll still go down as a tremendous year, just not 2013-esque.
Ted Zahn: In both of our 2025 prediction articles, I wrote that the Seahawks would make the playoffs as a wildcard and win two playoff games, falling short on the road in the NFC Championship. Not all of that can be true, but do I want to double down on either winning twice in the playoffs or losing in the NFC Championship so I can say I was right? No, I don’t think I want to. Seattle’s defense continues to smother opponents in the playoffs, and they benefit from a surprise Bears victory to avoid the Rams. The Seahawks beat the Texans in Santa Clara 13-10 on a Nick Emmanwori pick-six in a defensive battle that everyone besides Seahawks fans hate.
Tyler Alsin: My favorite quote from Mike Macdonald this year was a small moment on the Seattle Sports Monday show when he said he’s the type of guy who would rather be told what the rules are, and then try to be the best there is at playing by those rules. Contrast with...
