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How long?

Being an active Seahawks fan for over twenty years, I have seen my share of tough losses. I suspect many readers of this blog are in the same boat. Our loss to the Rams today barely sniffs the top 20 in terms of severity and disappointment. That said, this season is now taking on a complexion that is making it one of the most frustrating seasons in Seahawks history. It has become very difficult to watch a franchise-best defense and excellent run game produce zero results as a consequence of negligible passing production.

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It’s easy to understand what the Seahawks coaching staff likes about Russell Wilson. He is bright, charismatic, earnest, hardworking, and he shows flashes of sheer brilliance on the football field. When has a clean throwing lane and time, Wilson is accurate and decisive with strong throws. However, in the aggregate, his bad plays outnumber his good plays (if only slightly). Offensive play-calling, and the “lid” Pete is keeping on it, certainly share some blame for the results on offense, but to claim Wilson is not a major part of the problem is to ignore reality.

Russell Wilson is a fine player, but playing him now is bad for him and bad for the team. He isn’t the best choice to win now, as blowing two winnable games has shown, and starting him now isn’t in his, or the team’s, long-term interests. No quarterback has ever suffered from riding the bench and learning in the NFL. Many have benefited from it. Many who have been forced into action early in their careers have suffered in the long term – Tim Couch, David Carr, Joey Harrington, and many others come to mind.

Enough of the hysterics, though; Pete Carroll and John Schneider have done an exceptional job building this team in terms of unconventional, aggressive, and successful personnel decisions. It is (to the best of my knowledge) Pete’s job to decide who starts and who sits, and thus his right to do what he believes is in the best interests of the team. That said, I believe they are over-thinking this decision and making one based on personality factors like attitude, charisma, and leadership.

Below, without further comment, are Russell Wilson and Matt Flynn’s stats, in their respective starts (four for Wilson and two for Flynn), next to Tarvaris Jackson's stats for his first four games of 2011:

Wilson: 60 for 100 for 60%, 594 yards, 4 touchdowns, 4 interceptions

Flynn: 55 for 81 for 67.9%, 731 yards, 9 touchdowns, 2 interceptions

Jackson: 84 for 135, 62.2%, 846 yards, 5 touchdowns, 4 interceptions

This post is not meant to change any minds, nor cry havoc, nor is it meant to advocate a particular course of action for the coaching staff. It is meant as an observation of the situation as we face it as fans, for the moment. I fully expect Wilson to start two more games at an absolute minimum (and more likely, until the bye), and to be benched only if he both loses and looks inept in every start.

The obvious question referenced at the title of the post is, how long does this continue? I’m afraid I don’t know the answer.

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