Seattle Seahawks: The Dark-Horse of the 2025-26 NFL Season
- elizabethmacbey
- Nov 14, 2025
- 4 min read
The Seahawks were supposed to be rebuilding. Instead, they’re rebuilding your playoff predictions.
They’re not flashy. They’re not loud. They’re just quietly, stubbornly good.
If you told anyone (especially me) in August that Sam Darnold would be quarterbacking a 7–2 Seattle Seahawks team, they’d probably ask what you were drinking...and if it came in Seahawks blue.
Coming into the season I fell victim to the same narrative all NFL analysts and superfans did - the Seattle Seahawks are in their rebuild era - too many new faces, no real sense of leadership, and a roster people assumed needed "one more year", and after that season opener against the 49ers, my heart sunk as this felt like the reality of the team. But if there is one thing about a Hawks fan, we have heart and we've got grit. By week 2, the 12th Man was alive! Now, as we approached week 10, the Seahawks have put everyone on notice in classic Seahawk fashion - quietly finding their identity, and surging at the exact moment nobody was watching.
The Seahawks are winning football games, tied for leading the NFC West, and doing it with the energy of a team everyone forgot about.
They’re not America’s Team. They’re not Taylor Swift’s Team. They’re the “don’t look now, but oh no, they’re good” team.
Defense First, Smack Talk Later
Head coach Mike Macdonald promised a defensive revival, and he’s delivering one that makes Pete Carroll’s gum-chewing ghost proud.
The Seahawks are holding opponents to just 19.1 points per game, ranking near the top of the league, and they’re doing it with a lineup of future stars and future Pro Bowl snubs: Byron Murphy II, Riq Woolen, Devon Witherspoon, and Tyrice Knight (who already sounds like an All-Madden create-a-player).
Their identity? Bend, don’t break.
Their vibe? Bend you until you rethink running a slant route.
This defense isn’t just solid, it’s opportunistic. The pass rush is vicious, the coverage is tight, and every opposing quarterback leaves Seattle looking like they just went twelve rounds with the weather and lost. They don’t just tackle you; they make you question your life choices.
From the Big Cat (aka Leonard Williams) to a revived secondary including young stars like Kobe Bryant, Tyrice Knight, and of course the devilish duo - Riq Woolen and Devon Witherspoon.
Add in rookies like Nick Emmanwori and Tyrice Knight, and you’ve got a defensive depth chart that looks like the Avengers of the Pacific Northwest.
The Sam Darnold Redemption Tour (Now with Fewer Ghosts)
Somewhere between MetLife and Mount Rainier, Sam Darnold found peace, and apparently, his arm.
In Week 9, he went 16-for-16 in the first half for 282 yards and four touchdowns. The internet was so shocked that it almost forgot to argue about Taylor Swift’s attendance at the Chiefs game.
The same quarterback once known for “seeing ghosts” now looks calm, confident, and borderline surgical in Klint Kubiak’s offense. It’s not flashy. It’s not reckless. It’s grown-man football, and Seahawks fans are eating it up like $18 Lumen Field nachos.
The Kids Are Alright (and Terrifying)
This roster’s youth movement is the envy of every front office still pretending they’re not tanking.
Jaxon Smith-Njigba has already cleared the 1,000-yard mark and runs the crispest routes out there (OPOY here he comes!). Jake Bobo, meanwhile, continues to be the undrafted folk hero Seattle didn’t know it needed, the guy who turns every third-and-7 into a meme and a miracle.
You best believe I didn't forget our running backs - K9! (cue the dog barking sound effect), and Zack Charbonnent have been putting together some angry runs recently some angry runs recently turning every handoff into a highlight reel and dragging half a defense with them. And of course our Tight End unit - A.J. Barner, Elijah Arroyo, and Nick Kallerup
They’re young, fast, and confident enough to let the league know we’re not in a rebuild - we’re in a revenge tour.
The Underdog Blueprint
What makes a real dark horse? It’s not luck, it’s chaos that somehow works.
The Seahawks’ blueprint is pure NFL mischief:
Top-10 defense that wins ugly
Quarterback who’s suddenly a vibes-based sniper
Offense that confuses opponents as much as it confuses fantasy owners
They’re not built to win by 30 (even though they kinda are...). They’re built to survive. And in this year’s NFL, that might just be the secret weapon.
Why Nobody Saw It Coming
In a summer of hyped storylines, Mahomes’ dynasty talk, Caleb Williams’ hype, and endless Lions propaganda, the Seahawks barely made a whisper. Preseason power rankings buried them in the middle of the pack.
Now, they’re 7–2 with receipts.
Seattle doesn’t care about your algorithms or your clickbait. They care about winning ugly, breaking predictions, and reminding everyone that “rebuild” was just code for “surprise.”
Final Whistle: The League’s Best-Kept Secret
The Seahawks aren’t the loudest team in football. They don’t need to be.
They’re the dark horse hiding in plain sight, the one that plays physical, talks modestly, and walks off the field with another win while the rest of the league argues about who’s “America’s Team.”
So believe it now: the Seahawks are for real. If you wait until January, it’ll be too late; they’ll already be in your team’s playoff bracket.
Edited by: Megan Livengood
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