SEATTLE – You could feel it, couldn’t you?
Whether you were one of the 68,579 fans inside Lumen Field or you were at home watching the broadcast last weekend, there was an unmistakable familiarity to the sensation – the intoxicating energy – surrounding the Seahawks’ spectacular playoff victory over the San Francisco 49ers.
Seahawks fans, not so long ago, had become accustomed to such a feeling during the Legion of Boom era, when the 12s regularly made Seattle the NFL’s most daunting place for opposing teams to play.
For so many, the game last weekend had to have felt like a long-awaited reunion with an old friend.
And yet, there was also something new about this experience this time around, a mixture of uncertainty and optimism around the potential for the next great era of Seahawks football.
It was certainly new for the Seahawks’ 38-year-old coach, Mike Macdonald, in his first playoff game in Seattle.
“What an atmosphere. Holy smokes,” Macdonald said after the 41-6 romp of the 49ers.
The Seahawks’ Rashid Shaheed returned the opening kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown, and the playoff party was in full tilt before most 12s had a chance to settle into their seats.
“You do try to actually try to take some time and look around and just understand how incredibly blessed we are with the best fans in the world,” Macdonald said. “It definitely made an impact to start the game. I just want to appreciate this. That was awesome – freakin’ awesome.”
The stage is now set for another home game for the Seahawks on Sunday afternoon against another divisional rival, the Los Angeles Rams, in the NFC championship game. The winner advances to the Super Bowl.
With another sold-out crowd at Lumen Field, the atmosphere promises to be much different from the last time the Seahawks and Rams met in the playoffs five years ago.
•••
It was the beginning of the end of the golden era of Seahawks football, and no one saw it coming.
Literally, no one was there to witness what might stand as the most tepid playoff performance in Seahawks history.
There is perhaps some symbolism in that: a hollow feeling from a game played in an empty stadium at the end of the 2020 COVID-19 season, when no fans were allowed at NFL games. Team executives in attendance might have preferred to use their N95 masks to cover their eyes.
The Rams came into Seattle on Jan. 9, 2021, and upset the Seahawks 30-20 in a wild-card playoff game at Lumen Field, the only home playoff loss during Pete Carroll’s 14 years as the Seahawks coach.
That 2020 season had started with such promise for the Seahawks, who at 5-0 were off to their best start in franchise history as star quarterback Russell Wilson emerged as the front-runner for the NFL MVP, an award he desperately desired to secure his legacy.
The “Let Russ Cook” era, it seemed, was in full effect.
The Seahawks would finish with a 12-4 record, winning four straight games to close out the regular season with their first NFC West title in four years and building momentum toward what they believed could be a deep playoff run.
The abrupt nature of the loss to the Rams, then, left everyone stunned.
“I told these guys, I have no place in my brain for this outcome,” Carroll said after the loss. “We were planning on winning and moving on and getting going and playing really good football and doing the stuff we need to do to win.”
Wilson threw an interception that was returned for a touchdown that gave the Rams a 13-3 lead in the second quarter, part of a lethargic performance from the Seahawks offense that day.
In his final playoff appearance with the Seahawks, Wilson finished the game with a passer rating of 17.6, per ESPN metrics, the fifth-lowest rating in any game of his NFL career up to that point.
“I hate this feeling, obviously,” Wilson said. “We felt like we had a chance today. … I was hoping for us to be able to win it all, and we didn’t do that.”
The loss had seismic ripple effects.
Friction between Wilson and the organization that had been bubbling behind the scenes during the second half of the season would soon surface publicly.
Wilson wanted greater sway in the direction of the offense and he spoke openly about his frustration with getting sacked so often.
All that sparked a year of drama surrounding Wilson’s future in Seattle. And after the Seahawks went 7-10 and missed the playoffs in 2021, general manager John Schneider pulled off one of most surprising trades in recent NFL history, sending Wilson to the Broncos in March 2022 for a bounty of draft picks and players.
A handful of those players in the trade – left tackle Charles Cross, cornerback Devon Witherspoon, and outside linebackers Boye Mafe and Derick Hall – continue to be key figures in the Seahawks’ ahead-of-schedule rebuild in Macdonald’s second year.
•••
Five years ago, Cooper Kupp and Cam Akers starred for the Rams the last time the Seahawks lost a home playoff game.
Akers, a rookie running back in his NFL playoff debut, had one of the best games of his career, rushing for 131 yards and a touchdown in that Rams upset. Kupp had four receptions for 78 yards for the Rams
A year later, they were part of the Rams’ Super Bowl victory over the Cincinnati Bengals.
They’re both on the Seahawks roster now, hoping to turn the tables on the Rams this Sunday.
Playing his rookie season in 2020 with no fans in the stands, Akers said this week, was “definitely a little weird.” But he liked that he could direct his focus more on football with no distractions coming from fans in attendance.
“It felt like a scrimmage almost,” he said.
Akers and Kupp each experienced the atmosphere at Lumen Field – with a packed house – last weekend for the first time as Seahawks.
“It was pretty special,” Akers said. “I would say here and Minnesota are the two best places I’ve ever experienced in my life.”
With fans in attendance, the Seahawks have won their last 11 home playoff games dating to 2005.
Kupp, the veteran wide receiver, is eager to make it 12 in a row for the 12s.
“It was buzzing. I love it,” he said, reflecting on the win over the 49ers. “The electricity, the fans brought it. It was awesome. I’m expecting even more this week. Can’t wait. Can’t wait to be a part of it.”