Seahawks enter bye week set for late season success

Fans of the Seattle Seahawks came into the 2020 season with hopes of a team that could rekindle the glory of seasons past, and looking to shake the inability to advance past the divisional round of the playoffs for the first time since 2014. The offense, led by future Hall of Famer Russell Wilson added free agents Phillip Dorsett, Greg Olsen and Carlos Hyde to an already potent group, while the defense saw trades bring Jamal Adams and Quinton Dunbar to town. Hopes were high that both units could improve upon 2019 and create a force to be reckoned with on the field of play.

So far those hopes have been proven to be half correct.

The offense, riding the right shoulder of Wilson and in the hands of second year wide receiver DK Metcalf, has been lights out. Through the first five weeks of the season the Seattle offense has scored more points than any other team across the NFL, averaging 33.8 points per game to this point. That stat is helped by the fact that the Green Bay Packers had a Week 5 bye, which meant they were unable to improve upon their 152 points scored for the season.

The defense, on the flip side, has struggled. Okay, struggled might be an understatement to a once great group that has now surrendered 25 or more points in every home game dating back to the 2019 season opener against the Cincinnati Bengals.

In any case, what does the ESPN Football Power Index spit out when an atrocious defense and an near unstoppable offense combine in the form of the 2020 Seattle Seahawks?

The leading contender to make the Super Bowl in the NFC.

According to the FPI, the Seahawks best ever start to the season has the team currently looking at a better than one in four chance of making the Super Bowl. Obviously, there’s a whole lot of season left, 68.75% of the season to be exact, but through the first five weeks the answer to the question of whether or not Pete Carroll and Brian Schottenheimer should be allowed to let Russ cook appears to have been resoundingly answered with a very loud, “Yes.”

Thus, it’s a bye week and then the Hawks travel down to Glendale for their first divisional game of the season against the Arizona Cardinals.