Last year, the Seahawks unceremoniously kicked head coach Pete Carroll to the curb. This year, he’s looking for a new NFL ride.
Adam Schefter of ESPN.com reports that Carroll wants back in. Which means, frankly, that Carroll’s agent has specifically told this to Schefter in the hopes that Schefter would broadcast it to the world, in the hopes of generating public opinion. Then, Carroll’s agent will owe Schefter big time.
And that’s how the sausage gets made.
Carroll, per the report/strategic leak, specifically has expressed interest in the Bears’ vacancy. Which obviously means nothing, unless the Bears have interest in Carroll.
Given that the team’s No. 1 objective (we’re told) is to hire a coach who will get the most out of quarterback Caleb Williams, a defensive coach whose best NFL teams were fueled by that side of the ball most likely won’t be the right guy to pair with Williams.
Carroll could be a good fit elsewhere, depending on the specific needs and objectives of the franchise. He’s only one year older than Bill Belichick. Unlike Belichick, Carroll has actually has had success without Tom Brady on his team.
It’s hard to fault Carroll’s agent for trying to use the media to get the word out about Carroll. That’s the agent’s job. It’s not the media’s job, however, to engage in quid pro quo P.R. for coaching candidates.
It’s one thing to express authentic and organic and unsolicited opinions, like we did recently when questioning whether Brian Flores’s lawsuit against the NFL and multiple teams will stand in the way of a second head-coaching opportunity. It’s another thing to let your strings be pulled by “sources” (probably only one source, but making it plural always sounds better) who want to get their back scratched — and who will return the favor, possibly many times over.
Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith suffered a knee injury during the team’s Week 15 loss to the Packers.
While he was able to play all of Sunday’s loss to the Vikings, Smith still isn’t 100 percent — and told reporters on Tuesday and likely won’t be for some time.
Playing the Bears on Thursday night, Smith was asked if the knee injury is behind him.
“It’s not,” Smith said, via Brady Henderson of ESPN. “It’s going to be there for a while, but you’ve got to keep pushing.”
Smith completed 31-of-43 passes for 314 yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions in the 27-24 loss to Minnesota. He was also sacked twice.
The Seahawks still have a chance to win the NFC West, especially if the Rams fall to the Cardinals on Saturday. But they also have to take care of their own business on Thursday against the Bears.
In 15 games this year, Smith has completed 70.1 percent of his throws for 3,837 yards with 17 touchdowns and 15 interceptions.
It’s currently unclear whether Seattle running back Kenneth Walker will be able to play against Chicago on Thursday night. But the Seahawks’ first injury report of the week indicates Walker has some more recovery to get through before Thursday if he’s going to be available.
Seattle listed Walker (ankle) as a non-participant for the first injury report of the week. Monday’s report is an estimate.
Walker went down in the second half with the ankle issue and was announced as doubtful to return.
Walker had just returned from a calf injury. posted 31 yards on eight carries plus eight catches for 28 yards on Sunday.
Overall, Walker has rushed for 573 yards with seven touchdowns and caught 46 passes for 299 yards with 1 TD in 2024.
Also on the injury report, tight end Brady Russell (foot), offensive tackle Abraham Lucas (knee/rest), linebacker Ernest Jones (knee/rest), and defensive end Leonard Williams (foot/rest) would not have practiced
Tight end Noah Fant (knee), running back Zach Charbonnet (elbow), center Olu Oluwatimi (knee), linebacker Derek Call (shoulder), and linebacker Uchenna Nwosu (wrist) are listed as limited.
Safety K’Von Wallace (ankle) is listed as full.
Justin Jefferson knows a thing or two about championship teams. And he currently sees parallels between two of the teams for which he has played.
After Sunday’s come-from-behind, 27-24 win over the Seahawks, Jefferson compared the 2024 Vikings to the 2019 LSU Tigers. The latter won the national championship.
“Not just what we’re doing out there on the field, but the way we carry ourselves, the way we treat each other,” Jefferson said after the game, via Kevin Seifert of ESPN.com. “In 2019, when I won a championship at LSU, it was the same type of vibe. The team is just together, fighting for one another every single game. It definitely feels the same.”
That will be music to the ears of Vikings fans, who have been waiting nearly six decades for a Super Bowl win. It’s also been nearly 50 years since the team’s last Super Bowl appearance. Forget being 0-4 in the Super Bowl; the Vikings have a six-game losing streak in the NFC Championship. They’ve lost the Super Bowl qualification game in 1977 to the Cowboys, 1987 to Washington, 1998 to the Falcons, 2000 to the Giants, 2009 to the Saints, 2017 to the Eagles.
“We’re coming together,” Jefferson added. “Every single game, we’re finding different ways to overcome adversity.”
The Vikings started the season with five straight wins. After narrow losses to the Lions and Rams, they’ve won eight in a row.
They’ve also adopted the mindset of going 1-0 each week. It’s a cliche, in large part because it works. When it takes root.
As it stands now, the Vikings need to go 1-0 twice to nail down the No. 1 seed, for the first time since the magical Randy Moss rookie season of 1998.
For the opening drive of Sunday’s eventual loss to the Vikings, Seahawks cornerback Riq Woolen wasn’t on the field.
After the game, coach Mike Macdonald explained that Woolen was benched for violating an unspecified rule.
“That was just a team rule thing,” Macdonald said, via Brady Henderson of ESPN.com. “We made it right and that’s what we decided to do, what was best for the team, and we’ll move forward.”
Woolen was replaced in the starting lineup by Josh Jobe, an undrafted rookie in 2022 who was promoted to the Seattle active roster last month. On the drive Woolen missed, the Vikings drove 70 yards on 12 plays for a touchdown.
During the postgame media availability, Woolen tested the limits of a league rule by refusing to answer questions from the media, with a single exception. That one media member did not ask Woolen about the benching.
The team-rule violation might have flowed from Woolen’s reaction to public criticism from Macdonald after a not-great performance in a home loss to the Packers.
Macdonald said at the time that it “wasn’t Riq’s best game,” and that he needs to have better focus on each and every play.
"[T]here are just a couple of plays right now per game where we want more from him, and he knows that,” Macdonald said after the Week 15 contest. “He’s the first one to tell you.”
“I don’t give a shit anymore,” Woolen said in response. “I really don’t care. I mean, when you do good, they gonna love you. When you do bad, they gonna talk about you.”
Woolen was in on the game-deciding play against the Vikings. Vikings receiver Justin Jefferson got past double coverage from Woolen underneath and safety Julian Love over the top. Love simply didn’t get over in time to disrupt the 39-yard touchdown reception.
