Field Gulls
The Seahawks haven’t won a playoff game since 2019. Will Geno Smith ever be the quarterback to end that drought for Seattle?
The Seattle Seahawks have a big decision to make regarding the future of quarterback Geno Smith. He’s been the starter for three seasons, which is probably at least two seasons longer than anyone could’ve predicted when he took over for Russell Wilson at the start of the 2022 season.
Seattle unexpectedly made the playoffs in 2022 behind Geno’s Comeback Player of the Year season, but soundly lost to the San Francisco 49ers. Subsequent seasons have ended without a playoff appearance via strength of victory tiebreaker.
Today’s Open Field discussion is whether or not you believe that the Seahawks will win a playoff game with Geno at quarterback. This is a semi-loaded question because there isn’t an absolute guarantee that Smith will still be the QB heading into next season, in which case we know what the answer is.
I imagine there’s a reflexive “no” coming from many respondents, and while I’m not going to dismiss those answers, I want to highlight six quarterbacks who have won playoff starts within the last 15 seasons.
This question is not about whether the Seahawks can win a Super Bowl with Geno Smith, which I think we have to acknowledge is much less likely than winning at least one playoff game. It’s already hard for consensus elite quarterbacks to win a Lombardi Trophy, so I’m not focused on that as the question. Winning a playoff game would be a significant step in the right direction for a franchise that has been sort of jogging in place for a bit and generally looked way out of its depth against actual contenders.
The Seahawks will have a real proper offseason under Mike Macdonald, albeit with another new offensive coordinator after Ryan Grubb is canned. The optimist viewpoint is that Klint Kubiak will be a clear upgrade from Grubb, the offensive line will finally be reasonably competent, and the defense will build upon last season’s successes. If Geno Smith and key players stay healthy, then Seattle should be poised to make some postseason noise. Those are quite a few “ifs” that are not a guarantee, but they’re not terribly unrealistic. Smith with a good roster and sound coaching should be a high-level quarterback. Time’s a tickin’ as far as opportunities for him in Seattle, however.
Do you believe the Seahawks will ever win a playoff game with Geno as the starter? Debate away in the comments. It’s not like you have anything better to do this weekend.
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