Dave Boling: Seahawks’ effort alone wasn’t enough against 49ers, it may be time for a roster evaluation

We have reached the point where it must be asked: What can be salvaged?

Falling once again to the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday, the Seattle Seahawks have now lost four in a row – a first for a Seahawks team under Pete Carroll.

Consider it laudable that the Carroll partnership with GM John Schneider has been able to not only reach Super Bowl-level heights, but to avoid the almost inevitable bottoming out that franchises encounter while rebuilding.

But that has left an annual post-season appearance as the bar for minimal acceptable performance in Seattle.

Fans are not accustomed to a limping denouement.

But here they are at 6-7 and standing in third place in the four-team NFC West Division.

They next face the powerful Eagles before wrapping it up against the Titans, Steelers and Cardinals. Taking three of those four might be enough to feel like a tardy-but-timid rally. Anything short of that will demand critical self-examination.

One option is to simply go young, and if a number of losses accompanies the evaluation, well, it might be mitigated by improved positioning come draft weekend. It’s a position that I’m certain Carroll would never consider.

The mention of Carroll might be a good place to start today’s discourse.

Even if they lose out and finish 6-11, nobody is going to fire Pete Carroll, or even politely ask if he’s willing to consider other options. Nor should they. I believe he’s earned that level of consideration.

But this is likely to be the third straight Seahawks season with single -digit wins after winning 98 games in the previous nine seasons.

The final four games will determine whether the trend is leveling or dropping. Changes at many levels must be made if it entirely unravels.

Does Carroll, now 72, want go to through that? I would never question his energy or passion. But if this finishes in a steep nosedive, perhaps the whole thing will take on a new perspective for him.

Coordinators? Mixed bag. If we can assume they’re accountable for the product on both sides of the ball, it’s instructive to hold them up to their divisional competitors. The Hawks this season were swept not only by division-leading San Francisco, but also by the Los Angeles Rams, and in those four losses, the opponents appeared to be more creative, adaptive and effective.

A promising core of young talent is one of Seattle’s areas of hope.

Backup quarterback Drew Lock got his first start as a Seahawk on Sunday, replacing injured Geno Smith. Some good, some bad. It’s difficult, at this point, to see either Smith or Lock leading the Seahawks back post-season success.

At several points in Sunday’s loss, though, the Seahawks showed the admirable inner resolve that characterizes most of Carroll’s teams.

I’d wager that when the Niners marched 75 yards in two plays, less than a minute after the start the game, many fans had this thought: Well, this game’s over.

They had seen the Hawks get thundered on Thanksgiving by the Niners, and watched how one of their better recent offensive efforts the previous week fell short against the Cowboys. Here they go again.

But rather than close up shop amid a rash of suspicious hamstring injuries, the Hawks rallied for an immediate touchdown.

Again, when the Niners went up 21-10, Seattle answered on a drive that second-year running back Kenneth Walker highlighted with a big gain on a short pass that displayed almost indescribable effort.

Lock then followed it up with a touchdown to tight end Colby Parkinson on a creative play that the Hawks’ defense had been burned on this season by opponents, a fake screen to both sides that opened up the middle for a delayed tight end route.

That they kept battling hard in defeat may be applauded, but should be the expectation. That the effort isn’t enough to result in a single win over the past month is an indictment of the overall quality of the roster and the ineffectiveness of the coach-generated schemes.

They now have four games to decide the extent of the reconstruction necessary.