A Grip on Sports: The Seahawks’ playoff chase is officially over, kicking off the beginning of change within the organization

A GRIP ON SPORTS • One play. One decision. One short less-than-10-second burst in a loss to woeful Chicago illustrated to near perfection why the Seattle Seahawks are 5-10 this season and not in the playoff hunt. And, when the 25-24 defeat was being rehashed, also illustrated a gulf between coach and quarterback that isn’t going away.

•••••••

• The ball was at Chicago’s 8-yard line. The Seahawks led by seven with about 8 minutes left to play. Another score, any type of score, would probably put the game away. Russell Wilson led his team out of the huddle with a third-and-4, the game on the line. It is something he’s done multiple times in his illustrious career. More often than not, what’s happened next has been positive for Seattle.

Not this time.

This time Wilson made a mistake. A mental mistake informed by a past that doesn’t live in Seattle anymore. A past in which Russell Wilson was young, agile and quick to make the right decision.

That Russell Wilson is gone, replaced by a less-than-6-foot-tall quarterback who can still make plays with his arm – when throwing over the top or given a lane to see his receivers – but only rarely with his feet. This time Wilson tried to make one with his feet. He should have used his head.

And it may have cost the Hawks a rare – this year, at least – win.

Wilson took the snap. He looked for a quick toss. Covered. One more look. Covered. He made a decision.

He was going to escape the pocket, run around, make a play. Put the Hawks in the end zone like he’s done hundreds of times before.

The smart play, the play a quarterback who didn’t have Wilson’s escapeability in his past would have made, was to throw the ball away. Accept the fact there was nothing available, that three points were more than fine and six weren’t going to happen. That wasn’t Russell Wilson’s way in his (and Seattle’s) glory years. Still isn’t.

And therein lies the problem.

Wilson tried to escape. Couldn’t. Got dragged down for a 13-yard loss. A 25-yard, possibly game-clinching field-goal attempt became a 38-yard one. Jason Myers trotted out, hit the ball well and it traveled straight and true. For about 30 yards, which should have been all it needed to travel. Then it veered wide left as if pummeled by an unseen wind. With it went the Seahawks’ hopes. The inevitability of loss No. 10 seemed assured.

Throughout history there have been uplifting stories of aging athletes adapting to their changing circumstances. Of excelling long past their expiration date thanks to being able to do things they didn’t have to do when they were young. Old fastball pitchers learning how to throw a curve ball. Scorers who became passers and rebounders. Speedy receivers becoming precise route runners.

Adapt or die.

Russell Wilson has adapted – in some ways. He’s become the best in the NFL at throwing the deep ball. He’s exceptional at it after being just good for years.  But he’s yet to adapt to his lack of mobility. He still tries to make plays he hasn’t been able to for years. He did it again Sunday.

“I was trying to play ball like I know how to do, and always do,” Wilson told the assembled media. “Try to move around and try to see if we can find a touchdown there.”

“Always do” is the operative phrase. He doesn’t understand it should be “always did” these days.

Pete Carroll gets it.

“We’ve got to get rid of the football,” the coach said. “We can’t take a sack there. Again, that’s what I’m talking about. I’ve got to get that done. I’ve got to get them to execute that way. I’ve got to get Russ to pull that off. I’ve got to get the coaches to make sure we reminded him well enough so that didn’t happen.”

Carroll is wrong, though. He can’t do it for Wilson. No one can. It’s up to the 10-year veteran to understand what has to be done. He may not be able to, not in Seattle at least. Maybe he goes somewhere else, realizes what has to change and is successful. It’s doubtful.

But it may just be past time to find out. Either Wilson must change or the Seahawks have to make a major one. The status quo isn’t working anymore. And it hasn’t worked for a while. It only took one play Sunday to illustrate it clearly.

•••

WSU: The Sun Bowl is in limbo. The University of Miami, which was supposed to be Washington State’s opponent in Friday morning’s game, pulled out yesterday, citing COVID-19 issues as the reason. The bowl organizers are scrambling to find a replacement team. If it doesn’t happen (and it doesn’t seem likely), the Cougars will return from El Paso – they arrived Sunday – with a trophy and little else. Colton Clark has all the particulars in this story. … Two other bowl games were canceled yesterday as the virus continues to wreak havoc on college sports. … Elsewhere in the Pac-12 and college football, many bowl games are still on, including the Las Vegas Bowl between Arizona State and Wisconsin. … Oregon is supposed to play Oklahoma in the Alamo Bowl, but both teams are shells of their regular-season selves. … Utah is on its way to California for its Rose Bowl matchup with Ohio State. … Arizona is using an app to connect players with NIL possibilities. … In basketball news, we forgot to mention Colorado yesterday when we wrote about the conference’s COVID-19 problem schools. The Buffaloes’ games with Oregon and Oregon State have been postponed.

Gonzaga: Around the WCC, there is a week until BYU (and everyone else) begins conference play.

EWU: Cooper Kupp is having a record-setting season. Maybe the record-setting season for a receiver. His performance Sunday leads off our roundup of local achievement in the NFL. … Around the Big Sky, Montana’s sixth man has had a starter’s type of season.

Seahawks: As Larry Stone wrote Sunday: “The entire Seattle season has had an ‘end of an era’ vibe to it, but this game felt definitive.” Yes it did. … Is it time to rebuild? … Rashaad Penny has come on lately, a lone bright spot in the morass of the season. … There are always grades. … Like his teammates, Myers has been inconsistent this season. … There was a DK Metcalf sighting yesterday.

Mariners: All the holiday packages have been delivered. It’s time for a mailbag.

Kraken: The NHL took a coronavirus break. It hasn’t seemed to help much.

•••       

• The deterioration of Wilson and the Seahawks isn’t something anyone in this household is happy about. But we can’t ignore it any longer. It showed down the stretch last season. It has accelerated this one. Changes need to be made or Seattle will sink further into irrelevance. And that hasn’t been the case for the past two decades. No one wants to go back to the Tom Flores years. No one. Until later …