Seahawks looking to accomplish rare feat in franchise history

The Seattle Seahawks sit at 3-1 overall but undefeated in their road games. Seattle conquered the Detroit Lions in an overtime thriller, and before the bye week the ‘Hawks smashed the New York Giants on Monday Night Football.

Up next are the Cincinnati Bengals, whose two home games consist of a 3-point win over the Los Angeles Rams and a 3-point loss to the Baltimore Ravens. If the Seahawks pull off the victory this Sunday, it’ll be just the third time in franchise history that Seattle has started a season with a 3-0 away record.

You don’t have to go back too far in the record books to find the last time Seattle pulled this off. Back in 2019, the Seahawks raced out to a 6-0 road record before losing badly to the Los Angeles Rams. They eventually finished 7-1 overall in the regular season (8-2 when you add in the postseason), and statistically the 2019 Seahawks are the best road team in franchise history. Of all things, a weak 4-4 record at Lumen Field essentially cost them the NFC West if not the top overall seed.

The other road warriors were the 1980 Seahawks... sort of. This was a fascinating group because they started the season 4-3, but by going 4-0 on the road and 0-3 at the Kingdome. After beating the New York Jets, Seattle proceeded to win no games regardless of location and torpedoed to 4-12.

In the Pete Carroll era, the Seahawks are 58-48-1 on the road, which is good for the 6th best record in the NFL. As Gregg Bell notes, Seattle’s record in 10 AM kickoffs (such as the one in Cincinnati this weekend) has been outstanding in recent years. You have to go back to 2010 for the last time the Seahawks failed to win at least three road games.

With a 9-game road slate for all NFC teams in 2023, Seattle will be on the road more than usual, so stacking these away wins would be absolutely pivotal in the pursuit for the playoffs. At this point, the bigger question mark for the Seahawks is whether they can recapture that once vaunted home field advantage, which sits at a pretty tame 20-15 since 2019.

Personally, I enjoy road wins more, especially when you can get a loud “SEA-HAWKS!” chant going in the other teams’ buildings.