A look back on the Seahawks 2020 season

Lumen Field, home of the Seahawks, during a Seattle Sounders game

Trevor Butler, Staff Writer
January 25, 2021

As the 2020 NFL season comes down the home stretch, teams’ seasons are finishing each week. After a tough 30-20 loss to the LA Rams, the Seahawks finished their season with a record of 12-4 and won the NFC West for the 9th time since 2002.

Russell Wilson got off to a blazing start, throwing 22 touchdowns in the first six games of the season, which helped his MVP (Most Valuable Player) campaign and coined the term “Let Russ Cook.” The team got off to a hot start in those 6 games, going 5-1 with their only loss being an overtime showdown in the desert with the Arizona Cardinals, which they lost 37-34.

After another great performance against the San Francisco 49ers, things began to go south for the Seahawks. The team stumbled with back-to-back losses, a 44-34 loss to the AFC East champion Buffalo Bills and a 23-16 loss to a division rival, the Los Angeles Rams.

Seattle was able to get back on track with 2 primetime wins in a row, a 28-21 win over the Arizona Cardinals on Thursday Night Football, and a 23-17 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday Night Football.

But the week after that came the most surprising defeat of the season. A 17-12 home loss to Colt McCoy and the New York Giants left fans confused and disappointed. “It’s just an uncharacteristic feeling that we’re not putting any points on the board.” Said Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll of the loss.

But oh boy did the Seahawks bounce back and put points on the board. The loss to the Giants was followed up with a 40-3 demolition of the New York Jets. Russell Wilson threw 4 touchdown passes and went 21 for 27 with 206 passing yards in the route of the Jets, which was only the second time in the last two seasons that the ‘Hawks had defeated an opponent by more than 14 points, and the largest win in team history since a 58-0 drubbing of the Arizona Cardinals in 2012.

From there the Seahawks were able to win their final 3 games of the season, but not in the most spectacular fashion. Wins of 20-15 over the Washington Football Team, 20-9 over the Los Angeles Rams, and 26-23 over the San Francisco 49ers closed out the year and gave the Seahawks the 3 seed in the NFL Playoffs.

Seattle’s playoff campaign came screeching to a halt, as the Rams seemingly had Seattle’s number and knocked them out in the first round. Rams running back Cam Akers continued his surprising season with a monster game on the ground, running for 1 touchdown and 131 yards on 28 attempts. On the Seahawks side of the ball, Chris Carson was the leading rusher, with 77 yards and no touchdowns on 16 attempts. Russell Wilson led the passing game overall, going 11/27 with 174 passing yards, 2 touchdown passes, and 1 interception.

Just 3 days after the playoff elimination, Seattle parted ways with Offensive Coordinator Brian Schottenheimer. In his 3–year tenure with the Seahawks, Seattle’s offense ranked 6th in points scored and 18th in yards gained (2018), 9th in points scored and 8th in yards gained (2019), and 8th in points scored and 17th in yards gained (2020).

My Seahawks offensive MVP is QB Russell Wilson, and my defensive MVP is Linebacker Bobby Wagner. Wilson finished the season going completing 384 of his 558 passing attempts and throwing for 4,212 yards total. He threw 40 touchdowns and 13 interceptions along the way. Wilson also picked up 513 rushing yards and 2 rushing touchdowns over the course of the season. Wagner had another stellar year on defense which backed up his 98-overall rating on “Madden 21”. Wagner finished the year with 3 sacks and 138 tackles, 81 of them being solo tackles. The biggest breakout star of this Seahawks squad for me is second year Wide Receiver DK Metcalf. After a rookie year with 58 receptions for 900 yards and 7 touchdowns, Metcalf really broke out in 2020. His second year saw 83 receptions for 1,303 yards and 13 touchdowns.

With the 2021 NFL Draft set to begin on April 29, Seattle is left without a first-round pick, having sent it to the Jets in exchange for Strong Safety Jamal Adams. That means that they join the LA Rams and Houston Texans as the only teams not selecting in the first round.

And as we look ahead to 2021, the Seahawks look to repeat as NFC West division champs, and it shouldn’t be that hard to do. Their opponents are as follows:

HOME

Arizona Cardinals

Los Angeles Rams

San Francisco 49ers

Chicago Bears

Detroit Lions

Jacksonville Jaguars

Tennessee Titans

New Orleans Saints

AWAY

Arizona Cardinals

Los Angeles Rams