Russell Wilson turned from transcendent to mere mortal, and the Seahawks couldn’t survive

Everything felt off, most notably Russell Wilson, who began this pandemic season with a month of tantalizing performances. Then he succumbed, stunningly, to the most prolonged slump of his Hall of Fame-destined career, a stretch of confounding play that continued in a peculiar 30-20 first-round loss to the Los Angeles Rams.

It was, undeniably, the kind of game that Wilson does not lose, not in the postseason and not against an opponent with a laboring quarterback. Entering this game, Wilson hadn’t lost a home playoff game in his career. The Seahawks hadn’t lost a home playoff game since the Rams, representing St. Louis back then, beat them 16 years ago. For Wilson to experience playoff disappointment, it has taken a quality signal caller on the other side to outlast his unceasing knack for finding ways to win. His six previous playoff losses came against Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, Dak Prescott, Cam Newton in his MVP season and twice to Matt Ryan, including the year he was the MVP.

This time, he lost a game in which Los Angeles was forced to start John Wolford at quarterback because of a Jared Goff thumb injury. Less than 10 minutes into the game, Wolford hurt his neck while absorbing a hit from Seattle safety Jamal Adams. So Coach Sean McVay had to play Goff, bum thumb and all, and he managed to complete 9 of 19 passes and scrape together 155 yards, more than half of which came on twin 44-yard passes to Cooper Kupp and Cam Akers in the first half. Goff didn’t turn over the football and threw a touchdown pass to Robert Woods, which ended up cementing the victory in the fourth quarter.

The Rams were resilient, and their defense was as potent as ever, thriving despite losing tackle Aaron Donald to an injury to his ribs in the third quarter. Akers, who rushed for 131 yards and a touchdown, rumbled through the Seahawks’ defense. Linebacker Darious Williams tilted momentum with a 42-yard interception return for a touchdown midway through the second quarter, jumping a bubble screen pass from Wilson to wide receiver DK Metcalf and giving Los Angeles a 13-3 lead. Although Wilson responded with a 51-yard touchdown pass to Metcalf on the next drive, the interception seemed to signal he was in a hole that even he was incapable of climbing out of.

It just felt odd. And for Wilson, it looked even worse.

“It was really hard,” Seahawks Coach Pete Carroll said when asked about Wilson’s day.

Wilson is a brilliant player, and he will bounce back. Given time to reflect, his 2020 season could be remembered more for the milestones than the uneven results. Wilson threw 40 touchdown passes for the first time. His 105.1 passer rating was better than the stellar efficiency that defines his career. With many fans clamoring for the Seahawks to “Let Russ Cook,” Wilson threw more passes than he ever had, and he finished eight yards shy of setting a career high for yards in a season. The Seahawks were 12-4 in the regular season, their most wins in six years. But the numbers aren’t an actual portrayal of the experience.

Wilson started the season so outstanding that his statistics were going to withstand the struggles. But he must wear this playoff failure, just as he must ponder all the failures he had as a season that opened with a 5-0 record, 19 touchdown passes and an unstoppable attack descended to a first-round disappointment.

“I hate this feeling,” a dejected Wilson said afterward.

The reality is that Wilson hasn’t sizzled since mid-October. He hasn’t been the highly efficient, touchdown-generating machine since he threw for four scores against San Francisco on Nov. 1. He reached 250 yards just once in the final eight regular season games, but you could temper some of the concerns because the Seahawks were trying to play more of their classic ball-control offense and slow the game down in hopes of emphasizing and aiding a defense that played so poorly despite their early success.

The defense improved significantly, but the offense never found a comfortable middle ground. The Seahawks were explosive, and then they were just functional. Wilson was putting up record numbers, then he was turning reckless, and then he was just grinding to manage games.

As a whole, it seemed the team was getting better, or at least better-suited for the playoffs. But there was a caveat: Wilson still had to find a way to be special when it mattered most. He couldn’t. The Rams harassed him, and it amounted to the worst playoff performance of his career.

Wilson completed just 11 of 27 passes for 174 yards Saturday. He was sacked five times. Sometimes he held on to the football for too long. He had just one interception, but that could have been about three. He even tried a dangerous no-look pass that probably should have resulted in a turnover. He was sloppy, uncertain, impatient.

In 16 career playoff starts, it was the first time Wilson had completed less than 48 percent of his passes. It was the first time since a playoff game in Minnesota four years ago — played outdoors in subzero temperatures — that he posted a passer rating below 75.

It’s not all on Wilson, but at 32, in his prime and on a contract that averages $35 million per season, Wilson must be better. Usually, he is better, even if he has to shake off a bad performance with a dramatic fourth-quarter comeback. It’s not strange to see Wilson struggle. It’s uncharacteristic to see him wilt. It’s unprecedented that he has been without the magic for so long.

“It was a year we were hoping for us to win it all,” Wilson said. “And we didn’t get to do that today.”

For the Seahawks, the abrupt ending hit hard. It was so unfamiliar to lose at home — a quiet home — and to blow a 12-4 season. Carroll said he had “no place in my brain” for how suddenly the season ended.

“This football season was supposed to just keep going for us,” he said. “It’s really frustrating to be done.”

The way it began, this season was supposed to be Wilson’s finest. The success was fleeting, replaced by challenges that no one saw coming. In atypical silence, Wilson walked off Lumen Field in atypical fashion: defeated. It was a weird year, for sure.