Let me start this whole thing off by saying that I think it is worthwhile for any diehard Seattle Seahawks fan to watch that Dallas Cowboys Netflix show America’s Team, as much as the subject and title might offend. It is incredibly well produced, but more importantly, it offers tons of insight into how a proper championship quality team gets built over the duration of about three to four years.

Three years is probably how long it takes a good head coach to see their vision of how they want their team to win fully take hold. Could happen sooner, as was the case of Sean McVay in LA, but most often, it takes about three or four years.

That is how long it took Pete Carroll here, and Mike Holmgren years before. That is how long it Jimmy Johnson years ago in Dallas, and that is how long it took Kyle Shanahan with the dreaded 49ers. This is how long it could take Mike Macdonald here in Seattle now, and that felt evident after yesterday’s dud against San Francisco.

As the dust has settled upon yet another disappointing home loss to these pesky 49ers, I cannot summon that much anger as I reflect on this 17-13 defeat. Was this a blown opportunity to beat a bitter division rival? Sure, and that blows, but.. I dunno.. also feels like a game that could prove teachable for a young team and a young coaching staff, and maybe this is the Cowboys Netflix show rubbing off on my perspective.

Truthfully, I’m not even really all that upset that Lumen Field was that packed with 49ers fans. I mean, I hate that it was, but I also think, what are we, as Seahawk fans, really expecting at this point?

It is what it is. The Niners are now the significantly more established team, with more top end talent, and Seahawk season ticket holders, perhaps many of them transplants now who work for Amazon and Microsoft, feel more compelled to sell off to Niner fans to turn a profit than be at the game themselves. It sucks, but there is only one way to turn this back around in favor of the home team.

This all changes when the Seattle Seahawks give 49er fans strong reasons to stay at home in Northern California. For the first time in a while, I do feel like those reasons could be coming sooner than later, as bad as this loss feels, and this game was an indicator.

Seattle’s defense, generally speaking, played good enough to win this game had in not been for some fourth quarter coverage issues (Riq Woolen, please come down to the principal’s office). As for their offense, while they were not great, they flashed potential, and nearly pulled off a come from behind win at the end. It didn’t happen, but I don’t think most 49er fans were necessarily feeling tons of confidence right before that strip sack of Sam Darnold happened in the final seconds, as he guided Seattle straight up the field into the red zone with plenty of time to score a game winning touchdown.

I know a lot of frustrated Seahawk fans won’t see it this way, but when the game was over, I kinda thought that in another match, Seattle would take these Bay Area clowns, and really, it was a game that could have gone either way. We shall see if that’s true in their end of season rematch down in Santa Clara.

This was not an easy game for the San Francisco 49ers, who some have projected as being the top team in the division based on talent, experience, and ease of schedule. This is probably the best positive that Seattle fans can take from another disappointing outcome.

Seattle fought them tough. Maybe that is not going to make a lot of Twelves feel assured about new offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak, and new QB1 Sam Darnold, but at the end of the day, I never thought this game would make or break either team this year.

I think the truth about the Seahawks offense is that it will likely be a process of finding itself through the first half of the season, much like Mike Macdonald’s defense did last year. I had hopes that they would come out of the gates on fire, but I am now tempering expectations. My new more rooted in reality view is that it might take to the end of October before we start seeing it gel.

Darnold is brand new to these receivers, and linemen, and runners. Klint Kubiak is probably still assessing what kind of offensive attack he can lean into with the talent on the team, and maybe he overthought scheming against his old boss Kyle.

I will say that I was pretty surprised (and annoyed) about how much of a mixed bag of looks concepts that Kubiak chose to use in this game. By everything that I kept hearing coming out of training camp, and seeing in games, I thought we would see way more Darnold under center, playing out of I formation with a fullback, getting the ground game going, and using play action out of it.

From the jump, it felt as though we got into a lot of the same crap we saw last year with Ryan Grubb’s calling plays. Lots of shotgun, drop backs, empty backfield passing, and stupid screens that weren’t working, and really not nearly enough trying to lock in and build off of the run.

Darnold’s best plays of the day seemed to be when he was allowed to go downfield, and when he was rolling out of play action. Zach Charbonnet seemed like Seattle’s most effective runner, and yet they head scratching-ly kept going to Ken Walker with seeming hopes of getting him going. JSN seemed like Seattle’s best deep threat, yet they were trying to get him going on screens instead of having him route up DBs downfield off of play action passing.

I think all of this frustrating stuff is probably symptomatic of Kubiak and Mike Macdonald needing to further iron out the newness of this offense, and figuring out what best to do with this personnel. I can forgive them for this game, but I don’t think I will be very forgiving if in week six against the Jacksonville Jaguars, the offense still looks this way.

We cannot have another year of erratic offensive play, especially with a schedule as favorable as this one appears to be. If this happens, it is squarely on Macdonald and nobody else.

Who knows if Sam Darnold is a franchise QB for this team, but it seems like he is used best as an under center play action guy. Maybe commit to him mastering that before trying to “trick opponents” with things further in the bag of the playbook.

Perhaps hold back on trying any Milroe Package stuff until the regular offensive starters all got the basics down like clockwork through the course of a game. I was hoping to see what the rookie could do, but that QB sneak play early in opening drive of the first quarter was a dud of a play when other parts of the offense seemed to be initially working, it felt head scratching to watch, and painfully forced. If it would have worked, we would be celebrating it today, but Milroe on the field pretty much signals what the play will be to any talented All Pro linebacker such as Fred Warner.

I also think it would be nice to decide who the main running back is between Walker and Charbonnet, and roll with him. For my money, it looked like Charbonnet was destined to be the hot hand against the 49ers until they shifted to K9, who was ineffective. I think it is possible that Charbonnet is the better fit for this scheme in terms to how he sees and reads the holes, but because K9 is the more dynamic athlete, perhaps they are trying to see if they can get him going. I think they need to decide on one being the primary guy, and for my money, I think it should be Zach.

I also cannot stress it enough how important it is to be what your state you want to be on offense. If your head coach says that he wants a tough as nails running style offense, then be that. Sam Darnold is not making so much money that you need to feel like you need him out of shotgun to get things going through the air. You can be more stubborn about getting the run game going, use that fullback, and tight ends.

And where were the much anticipated tight ends in this game, anyways? San Francisco had their top guy knocked out, and still found ways to get their reserves going.

Be what you say you are going to be.

I’m not going to criticize the defense much in this one. Nope, won’t do it.

They fought hard, but were on the field way too much, and you could say they struggled on third downs, but I would also say they clearly weren’t supported much by the offense. Against the well oiled offensive machine of the 49ers, who have been dominating with this offense for years now, they still managed to give Brock Purdy fits all day. They gave an effort worthy of a quality home win.

It was just the offense that didn’t deliver, and it is what it is. Nothing more, or less.

Ultimately, however, I would also say that now is not the time to panic about it, either, comparing Darnold to what Vegas did with Geno Smith against the Patriots, and all this other stuff that some fans and media will, inevitably, feel compelled to do. Let’s just resist that impulse, and think about the greater picture and process of this team moving forward with Macdonald at the helm.

If you are an overly stressed out Seahawk fan right now, or an underwhelmed one, then get even more behind the Mariners as they push for the playoffs, and then keep your fingers crossed that Kubiak, Darnold, K9, JSN, Charbonnet, and Cooper Kupp and company will settle in together better after September. I still think there is a good chance that they all will.

And I still believe this could be a fun year for Seahawk fans.

Go Hawks.