I’m never cocky about predicting a win. I don’t predict wins. I do my best to not predict anything because predictions are for fools. Don’t you dare look in my history for a contradiction.
Not one single dare.
Don’t take any of the following as a prediction of what will happen on Monday night as the Seattle Seahawks host the Minnesota Vikings, it’s simply a series of facts. These facts will be complimentary of Russell Wilson and the Seahawks, but they will not be complementary to a forecast of Monday night’s events. Just take them as you wish to take them.
If Santa Claus is December’s “Perfect 10,” then Russell Wilson is the month’s perfect 102.5.
110 quarterbacks have thrown at least 600 passes in December and the player with the highest rating out of all of them is Wilson: 569-of-898, 7,142 yards, 64 touchdowns, 20 interceptions, 7.95 Y/A, and a rating of 102.5.
Hes’s also one of the six QBs on that list to rush for over 1,000 yards in December.
A key caveat to passer rating is that it is far from a perfect stat and will never age well; the QB 110th out of 110 is Hall of Famer George Blanda. But regardless of the stat you use, and even after you adjust for era, few would argue against Wilson as one of the month’s best quarterbacks of all-time.
And the team follows suit.
The Seahawks are 23-9 in December since 2012 for a winning percentage of .719. The only better winning% in December among these 110 quarterbacks are Tom Brady (.824), Joe Theismann (.774), Joe Montana (.766), and Andrew Luck (.739). Before you say anything about Luck and the Colts’ December winning%, I’ll mention that Luck’s rating for the month is predictably bad (87.0 and 7 Y/A) and over nine fewer games, and against the AFC South.
Speaking of recent history —
Since 2012, the Patriots are one game better than Seattle in December (24-8 to 23-9) and the only team to score more points (879 to 877), but the Seahawks have the best December defense (500 points total, 15.6 points per game) and point differential. Other than New England, no other team is even close.
They have famously been the best team to finish out every year under Pete Carroll and Wilson, and the stats support the narrative.
The narrative about primetime also holds up.
The Seahawks have the best winning percentage in Monday Night Football history (.714) and they’re even better under Carroll at 9-2 since 2010. Overall, Seattle is 28-5-1 in primetime under Carroll and 18-2 in those games at home.
In December primetime games: 8-0.
Last December, the Seahawks beat the Vikings 21-7 on Monday Night and the Kansas City Chiefs 38-31 in a Sunday night matchup. They came into that win vs KC as 1-point underdogs at home but controlled most of the game and led by 10 with under 2 minutes.
Even as they struggled in 2017, Seattle beat the eventual champion Philadelphia Eagles 24-10 on December 3 at home on Sunday Night Football.
In 2016, the Seahawks beat the Carolina Panthers and LA Rams by a combined scored of 64-10 in two December home games.
Specifically on Monday night, Wilson has a passer rating of 103.4 with 17 touchdowns and four interceptions. On at least 200 attempts, only Steve Young, Drew Brees, and Jeff Garcia have a higher rating. Although for Young and Brees, they have considerably more MNF experience. Wilson is 8-2 on Mondays.
There’s also the well-known benefit of playing at home. Despite their 6-0 road record this season, we know that Seattle is a team and city that prides itself on homefield advantage. Only Aaron Rodgers has a higher career passer rating at home than Wilson (107.8 to 103.9) and only three Hall of Famers (Young, Kurt Warner, Roger Staubach) have a higher Y/A at home than Wilson.
So the Seahawks are at home, in primetime, on Monday Night Football, and at home. What else is good news? Well, I’m not sure if it’s “good” yet or not but last week Pete Carroll upped his record against the Eagles to 5-0. He is 5-0 against the Vikings as head coach of the Seahawks. Of the four regular season wins, in non-frigid temps, they’ve won by 31, 21, 14, and 10. All with Wilson at QB.
These are all good things for the Seattle Seahawks, for Pete Carroll, for Russell Wilson. Not mentioned once at all: who the teams are today and going into Monday night. I didn’t write a thing about Kirk Cousins (who did beat Seattle in Seattle as QB for Washington in 2017) or how to stop Danielle Hunter or that every active streak needs to become inactive at some point. All good things must end.
Let’s just hope they don’t end this week because if not, the Seahawks will be in first place in the NFC West with four games to go. That could happen. I’m just not here to tell you if it will.
Draw your own conclusions.