Seattle Seahawks struggling to process surprising playoff loss

The Seattle Seahawks are still coming to grips with their loss to the Los Angeles Rams in a NFC wild card playoff game Saturday.

The Seahawks entered the playoffs believing this was the year for a deep playoff run. The Seahawks exited the playoffs trying to figure out how they allowed the Rams to post a 30-20 win.

“I’m still in shock that we lost in the first round. I’m like, okay, ‘We’ll at least go to the NFC championship this year and see what happens then,” linebacker K.J. Wright told reporters Sunday. “It’s very frustrating. Very disappointing. Somebody’s got to be there and I felt like it should’ve been us.”

The Seahawks had a number of factors going for them. They were playing at home after capturing the NFC West title with a 12-4 record. They were 6-0 at home in the playoffs under coach Pete Carroll. They were facing a Rams’ team that would start a quarterback with one game of regular season experience in his career.

The Seahawks entered the game riding a four-game winning streak and having won six of their final seven games during the regular season. The defense performed very well during the second half of the season, giving the team an extra dose of confidence.

“I definitely feel like we had the group to go further than we did. It feels weird that we’re done,” linebacker Bobby Wagner told reporters Sunday. “Still trying to wrap my mind around it.”

There were warning signs for the Seahawks.

They split the regular season series with the Rams, but they scored a total of 36 points and the Rams’ defensive front seemed to have their way with the Seahawks’ offensive line. The Rams sacked quarterback Russell Wilson a total of 16 times and hit him 30 times in the three games this season.

The Seattle defense was surging to close out the season, but the offense regressed during the same time span and was largely stifled during the loss to the Rams in the wild card game.

“I told these guys I have no place in my brain for this outcome. We were planning on winning and moving on and getting going and playing really good football and doing the stuff we need to do to win,” Seattle coach Pete Carroll told reporters after the game. “We didn’t plan on getting knocked out.”