2024 Seattle Seahawks Season Outlook: Novel Season With New Coaching Staff

Despite a new coaching staff without legend Pete Carroll, the Seattle Seahawks face an uphill battle for 2024 but have a shot at a Wildcard berth with potential openings among the NFC teams.

The NFC West will be one of the better divisions in football, as they will have to overcome teams like the San Francisco 49ers, the Super Bowl runner-ups twice a year. The Los Angeles Rams got the better of them twice, along with the 49ers, as these two playoff teams will be the benchmark division games for the Seattle Seahawks.

The Arizona Cardinals should be way better than their record suggests, so their matchups against the Seahawks shouldn’t be cakewalks, like in 2023 when Seattle won low-scoring close games.

With the turnover among the coaching staff and personnel-wise, this will be an interesting first year for new head coach Mike Macdonald, offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb, and defensive coordinator Aden Durde. Even with these new additions, the Seahawks will still be a competitive team with veteran quarterback Geno Smith under the helm for Seattle.

Seattle Seahawks: Easiest Stretch

The Seattle Seahawks have their home opener in Week 1 against the Denver Broncos and even though they follow that up by traveling to New England for Week 2 against the Patriots, I would still give them the edge for both games.

It is difficult at this stage to identify games they would be the favorites besides maybe home games.

The games I could see Seattle winning other than those mentioned already would be Week 5 at home against the New York Giants and Week 16 against the Minnesota Vikings. Week 17 in Chicago against the Bears, Week 13 at Metlife against the New York Jets, Week 15 at home against the Green Bay Packers, and Week 7 in Atlanta against the Falcons are all toss-up games to me.

Although the Seahawks have a great first two games on paper, their middle to the 2024 season is rough.

Seattle Seahawks: Toughest Stretch

The middle portion of the Seattle Seahawks’ schedule on paper is brutal, going against 5 playoff teams including 2 division games before their Week 10 bye week.

Non-division opponents include Week 3 in Seattle against the Miami Dolphins, Week 4 in Detroit vs. Lions, and at home in Week 8 match-up against the Buffalo Bills.

After the bye, it is more 50/50 non-division games for the Seahawks which will be key for them to win a few, including Week 13 at Jets. Week 15 at home vs. Packers, and Week 17 in Chicago against the Bears.

Their early season schedule is rougher with how they end the season, despite more division games, which will ultimately dictate how the year will go for Seattle.

Seattle Seahawks: Important Games

The key games for the Seahawks will be their division games, as they only swept and won against the Cardinals in 2023. They play in Weeks 12 and 14, with a tight turnaround for Seattle to face them almost back-to-back games.

Splitting games against one or both the 49ers (Weeks 6 and 11) and Rams (Weeks 9 and 18) would help their playoff chances as well, as their offense for those games with the likes of DK Metcalf and Kenneth Walker III was lacking, not enough to compete with playoff-caliber teams.

A healthy Smith at quarterback should at least make the team stabilize, as their defense will be a young but developmental, growing unit in 2024. The hiring of Macdonald, from the Baltimore Ravens as a former defensive coordinator, should result in an improvement on the field, especially with first-round pick Byron Murphy II.

A potential repeat for the Seattle Seahawks with 10 wins is optimistic and would be a successful first year.