In the dark depths of Mordor, Aaron Rodgers prays to his dead Sith grandfather, Darth Magneto.

“Grandfather, I didn’t take that stupid vaccine, just as you would have refused, and the woke mafia has made fun of me for ten days because I lied about my status, just as you would have done, too. Please let me beat that woke ass wuss, Russell Wilson, and his bleeding heart senile coach. I fucking hate those guys. Grant me this victory, and I will kick a puppy dog for you afterwards.”

And gosh darn it all if Darth Magento didn’t listen to his miserable grandchild. Fucking Aaron Rodgers has beaten Russell Wilson once again in Green Bay, and in the final moments of the game, his arrogant smirk was a mile wide for all the cameras to catch.

This was as ugly of a game for Russell Wilson as I’ve ever seen. It’s a reality that you can’t side step.

It’s probably mostly due to the fact that he rushed to come back from injury. I’ve said it on a podcast a few weeks back, I thought coming back for the Green Bay game felt too early. He and Pete Carroll claimed that he didn’t have a problem throwing with his finger, but to my eyes, he didn’t look sharp enough, and at times, looked way too hesitant. But then again, there have been other games in Lambeau where he’s looked like that, as well.

This was a game that I was anticipating would be a loss before his injury, so I’m not overly upset. Healthy Russell Wilson have yet to have a good game in Green Bay.

Still, this felt like a game Seattle could have won, especially had it not been for his two interceptions in the end zone that felt ridiculously forced.

I love Russ as much as the next Seahawk fan, but I gotta be honest, this is a loss that felt like it was mostly on him. I can’t see it otherwise.

There will be takes about this loss that it was Pete Carroll’s fault and/or Shane Waldron’s fault, but Russ again chased after deep passes instead of taking other options that were wide open to him, like Freddie Swain was wide open when he threw into deep couple coverage to Tyler Lockett in the end zone. Maybe it was out of frustration in how Green Bay’s defense had been stymieing him, and some of his throws were out off wack, but Russ has been a starting quarterback in this league for ten years now, and these are throws he shouldn’t be forcing at this point of his career, and good luck arguing against that fact.

When Russ is struggling, these sort of bad decision throws tend to creep up on him. Given the fact that he has always struggled in Green Bay, and he was likely going to be rusty due to his time away from the game and figuring out how to throw with a taped up finger, this game was not a soft landing for his return. I personally saw this coming a mile away.

Part of me thinks Geno Smith might have given them a better shot at winning this, and that’s a really weird thing for me to type. Honestly, I’m not convinced playing him instead would have made that much of a difference. Some of his throws might have been crisper, but I doubt he would have scrambled to extend out of Green Bay’s pass rush as well as Russ did at times. It could have been a really ugly one for Geno, as well, or even worse.

Here’s some other notes.

The Good

Jamal Adams had, by far, his best game of the season, and he was impactful against the run, pass, and as a pass rusher. It seems like during the bye week, Seattle decided to allow him to do what he does best and they unleashed him as a pass rusher. It was nice to see this, and it was really nice to see him pick off Aaron Rodgers in the end zone. When that happened, it gave me a temporary feeling like Seattle could pull this game out in the second half when the score was still only 0-3.

Up through the third quarter, the Seattle defense, as a whole, played a pretty darn solid game. It’s unfortunate that the box score won’t reflect that enough, but because Seattle’s offense was so inept, this defense was forced to play waaaaaaaaaaaay too many minutes of action in this one. They weren’t the reason Seattle lost this game, however.

I thought tight end Gerald Everett had a very strong game, and Will Dissly got into the action on a nice run after catch chunk yardage play, as well.

The Bad

If I were the coach of this team, I probably would have held Russell Wilson back for another week. By all accounts of how long it takes someone to recover from this type of finger injury, Russ probably came back two weeks early. I admire his dedication to get back from injury and rehab, but for my money, it wasn’t worth the risk of him getting it hurt again or struggling to gut out a game that he might have felt better about in another week or two.

Seattle isn’t likely a playoff team this year, and Russell Wilson is the team’s best asset. I would have been more protective and rolled with Geno, and if Russ were to be unhappy about that, I’d deal with that.

The result is Russ having probably his worst performance as a pro in a hostile house that he has always struggled in, and his teammates clearly showing their frustrations as the game wore on. We can argue as fans who would have given this team the better chance at winning, Russ or Geno, but that matters very little in the bigger picture. What matters more is what the players on the field with Russ felt, or the players on Seattle’s defense, who fought valiantly, felt.

I’m telling you all right now, if there exists players on this Seattle roster who felt Geno would have given them a better chance in this one, that’s a bit of a problem, and Russ probably shouldn’t have been starting.

The other thing that, of course, sucked royally was all of the officials being either huge Packer fans, or part of the Anti-Vaccine Movement in America, and thus feeling solidarity with Aaron Rodgers. I’m not even going to list all the fucked up calls in this game that went against Seattle because they all did.

The Ugly

I’m officially starting to worry about what is going on with DK Metcalf. His grabbing the face masks of Chatty Cathy defenders and shoving them in the final moments of the offense being on the field was a very weird melt down to watch unfold. His lack of composure in certain games is starting to become more and more unsettling. Perhaps there is frustrations mounting for him with the play calling, or the quarterbacking, but something doesn’t seem right with him right now.

It’s entirely understandable that he would be upset about this outcome, but he’s got to lay off mixing it up with defenders when the going gets tough because the league has the memo out on him now. He loves to talk trash on the field, but can be gotten to when he is struggling. Defenders are looking for that opportunity with him now. He might want to start slowing some of trash talk down a bit for a while, and just focus on being the best receiver and teammate he can be.

Moving forward

I wasn’t expecting Seattle to win this one. I also had tempered expectations about Russ returning against Green Bay, and I was skeptical how the defense would hold up against Rodgers. I was actually pleasantly surprised about the defense hanging in as tough as they did.

But I gotta be honest. I look at this team right now, and I don’t see playoffs. I don’t even see them climbing much beyond eight wins, even if they do play better ball down the stretch. Even if they are able to beat Arizona next week, those feelings aren’t likely to change, either.

Part of me wants to see Carroll starting to go more with the young players on this roster. Maybe start Alton Robinson and Darrell Taylor more at defensive ends. Start looking at Cody Barton more again. Mixing in DeeJay Dallas more at running back. Starting Tre Brown at corner.

Carlos Dunlap, Benson Mayowa, Al Woods and others aren’t the future of Seattle Seahawk football right now. Tre Brown, Robinson and Taylor, and maybe Barton are. I honestly don’t understand why we didn’t see more Dee Eskridge in this one, either.

But I don’t see Carroll doing that, and I don’t know if I blame him. Even thought this team is now sitting at 3-6, Carroll won’t abandon his optimism that his team can quickly turn it around and make some magical playoff run. He will see that if they can just beat Arizona, the schedule suddenly gets much softer, and perhaps a winning streak awaits.

I can’t honestly fault him for that, but my goals for this team are likely more different than his right now. I see an team that needs a major reset this off-season.

But beating Arizona this Sunday will make things feel better. Maybe, right now, that’s all we need to feel as fans.

Just beat those damn Cardinals.

Go Hawks.