Fire the best coach in Seahawks history? After Sunday’s listless loss, it might be time

I was reluctant to think it was time to move on from Pete Carroll until Sunday. But after the Seahawks were punished by the Steelers, the professional football situation in Seattle went from “what if” to “who are we kidding.”

If you want to keep what iffing, you’ll point to the Seahawks still being alive for a playoff berth if they beat the Cardinals this Sunday and the Packers lose to the Bears. Then you’ll what if your way into believing the Seahawks will win their first-round game at Dallas, Philadelphia or Detroit because they either beat or were competitive against those teams in the regular season.

And if they win that first-round game only to get bludgeoned by the 49ers in the next round, you’ll think the Seahawks are not that far off from returning to the Super Bowl with a tweak here and a tweak there.

I’ve changed camps, wondering why I was a what iffer for so long. It’s pretty evident that the who are we kidding crowd has a better handle on the future of the Seahawks than Carroll’s Kool-Aid drinkers.

If Carroll remains as the head coach, the Seahawks will somehow battle the Mariners in an even matchup to the poll question of who’s having the worst offseason.

As a skeptic-cynic, I appreciate Carroll’s endless enthusiasm and rosy outlook on seemingly everything. But it’s become too over the top. I don’t want to hear what he’s so fired up about anymore, especially when it’s not worth being fired up about.

What we saw on Sunday was alarming. The Steelers manhandled the Seahawks at the line of scrimmage. They rushed for 202 yards, mostly with routine straight-ahead running plays. After awhile the Seahawks had to know what was coming but couldn’t stop the onslaught anyway.

It grew to be constantly comical as the Steelers piled up more and more yards after contact as the Seahawks looked like they’ve never known how to tackle. And they couldn’t stop the pass either, turning a third-string quarterback in Mason Rudolph into a guy who went 18 for 24 for 274 yards.

That put me on the fence between the two camps, but what made me go kicking and screaming to the who are we kiddings was his comment after the game that the Seahawks are actually looking forward to Jamal Adams’ return in 2024.

Before the game the Seahawks announced they were shutting down their overpriced safety for the season because he hasn’t been able to fully return from a quad injury suffered in 2022. Adams played in a handful of games this season and was largely ineffective. It’s fair to wonder if he wasn’t ready to go in December, why was he deemed ready to go in October?

Plus if we’re being honest, Adams has too many flaws to warrant playing time even when fully healthy. So to acknowledge that he’s coming back next year either rules out or makes it harder to cut him when you have more time to think about it and determine that your defense is better without him.

That’s what should be done whether it puts you in salary cap hell or not. But Carroll looks like he can’t do with Adams what Sean Payton did with Russell Wilson, making a smart decision when justified.

If you still want to root for the Seahawks to beat the Cardinals, and the Bears to beat the Packers, fine. But keep in mind what you’re rooting for is another 9-8 season next year and another early exit from the playoffs.

I’d like to see a new coach with a new philosophy who might pump life into a sorry defense and find a way to spark a talented but inconsistent offense.

The danger in dusting Carroll is the possibility his successor isn’t worth a damn, and the Seahawks flounder as a result. Make no mistake that Carroll has been the best coach in franchise history, posting one winning season after another, but they’ve gone from really good to pretty good and that’s not good enough.

I’ll root for Kyler Murray and the Cardinals to have a day against the Seahawks like they had in Philadelphia on Sunday when they sprung the upset as double-digit underdogs. Short of that happening, I’ll root for the Packers to win so we can stop this nonsense of thinking the Seahawks could potentially win the Super Bowl this year and if they don’t, it’s still a step in the right direction.

I’m ready for a tear-down, even if it means a 3-14 season during the rebuild with bigger dividends down the road.

It would be a bold move to fire the best coach in franchise history, but at this point it’s a move that should be made.

Jim Moore has covered Washington’s sports scene from every angle for multiple news outlets. You can find him on Twitter @cougsgo, and on KJR-FM 93.3, where he co-hosts a sports talk show from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on weekdays.

This story was originally published January 1, 2024 at 9:50 AM.