Winners of the NFC in back-to-back seasons, the Seattle Seahawks are now in big danger of missing the playoffs after a 2-4 start.
Another late game collapse cost the Seahawks a win in Week 6, as the Carolina Panthers came back from nine points down with 11 minutes left to stun Seattle at CenturyLink Field. The Seahawks have led in the fourth quarter in all four of the team’s losses this season.
A 2-4 start in the NFL generally means no postseason.
Since 1990, only 14 teams have recovered from 2-4 to make the playoffs. The last was the 2011 Denver Broncos, who won the AFC West with an 8-8 record and Tim Tebow under center. Two of the 14 made the conference championship game (Tennessee, 2002; Jacksonville, 1996), but no team has ever started 2-4 and played in the Super Bowl.
The Seahawks have allowed 54 points in the fourth quarter and overtime over the team’s four losses.
“I know you guys don’t want to hear it,” head coach Pete Carroll said, via Sheil Kapadia of ESPN. “But we have six games we should have won, and we know that.”
Instead, the Seahawks have just two wins—with one over a Jimmy Clausen-led Bears team and another featuring a controversial ending against the Lions. Seattle now enters Week 7 facing a make-or-break Thursday night road game against the 2-4 San Francisco 49ers.
Only four teams since 1990 have been 2-5 and made the postseason.
The Seahawks are far from dead, especially if Seattle can rebound with road wins over the 49ers and Dallas Cowboys before the team’s Week 9 bye. Seattle is currently just two games back of the division-leading Arizona Cardinals, who fell to 4-2 with a loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 6.
“With all the history that we’ve had, ain’t nothin’ done,” Carroll said, via Gregg Bell of the News Tribune. “Ain’t nothing over.”
The reigning NFC champions have work to do to overcome history and make the postseason.