Far be it from me to tell anyone how to be a fan. We all come in different sizes, shapes, and we all have different ideals about how we want our football team to play, and ultimately win football games.

Personally, as I watched the Bears and 49ers battle it out on SNF last night, I wanted to puke in my mouth a bit by the eye-poppingly lack of any semblance of defense being played on the football field in Santa Clara. I get it that the NFL is deemed a quarterback driven league, and it is is largely fueled by fantasy football, but if the Seattle Seahawks were a team this year that was mostly driven by their offense and they had a win a bunch of shootouts because their defense couldn’t reliably, oh, I don’t know, stop the run, cover, rush the quarterback, I think you would get a whole bunch of F bombs out of me on this blog, and live in person during games.

I know that the Seahawk offense has had its issues during the last six games after that narrow loss to the Rams in LA, I am aware of the Sam Darnold turnover moments, the slow first half starts, and the odd play calling from Klint Kubiak from time to time. I would also add that, despite these warts, Seattle has remained one of the more explosive scoring offenses in the league, and generally speaking, whenever you pair this level of explosiveness on offense with a top tier defense and special teams, good things happen, and you have a proper contending football team, overall. Hence, Seattle’s six game winning streak since Darnold threw four picks in a loss in LA in early November,

So, I guess, for myself, I don’t mind if Seattle is living with some warts on offense this year when they are playing defense like this heading into the playoffs. I am a fan who adores defensive minded winningness. Give me playoff teams that have Steel Curtain, 86 Bears, LOB style defenses every single time over Dan Marino Dolphin stuff I watched on the set as a kid. For me, Championship Football should always include a defense that scares the crap out of opposing fans.

So, that said, I don’t know what kind of world we live in where the Seattle Seahawks win 13 games in Mike Macdonald’s second year as head coach, and still it feels not enough for many fans, and those who work high profile jobs in the media. Vegas had the Seahawks penciled in for about seven wins this year, and to finish fourth in the NFC West division. There was little belief in Sam Darnold, JSN, Macdonald, and the host of many others on and around this team.

Yet here we are, with one game left to go on the season, Seattle has beaten every team on its schedule that they should have handled, they earned a few quality wins against playoff bound teams to boot, they picked up their 13th win yesterday, and still so much talk has to be around whether they can get their shit together on offense enough for the playoffs, especially regarding Sam Darnold (a dude who has earned himself pro bowl recognition by way of votes from players and coaches, and has led one of the most explosive downfield passing attacks on the year). Good Lord in Heaven. I don’t know if this is millennial or Gen Z Seahawk fan entitlement, or what, but I can only imagine what social media would have been saying during the days of Matt Hasselbeck and Dave Krieg, if it were in existence back when.

I am to the point to where I no longer give a shit about whether you have issues or concerns about Sam Darnold and this offense. I just don’t, and I find the narratives around him both lazy and somewhat pointless, frankly. This is year one of a brand new offensive scheme that takes time to master. The Rams and 49ers have been playing in their variants of this scheme for years, and all their coaches and players know it inside and out. It is futile to compare the Seahawk offense to theirs.

If Sam Darnold’s back to back 13 regular season wins in a row with two do nothing to impress you, nor does his pro bowl nod, or anything else about him, then fine. I can tell you this, though. I think the team really likes him.. a lot, and because of that, I don’t think he’s going anywhere anytime soon. In fact, if I were to guess anything, I would put my money on the likelihood that we are in the infancy of the Darnold era in Seattle more than anything else.

So instead beating some dead horse about him, perhaps it is time to warm up to him a bit more, in general. You know, maybe get past some of the turn overs that have happened, and think a little more on the critical fourth quarter drives he’s made for this team this year. In 16 games he’s played this year, he has shown a nice knack for that, and one that I fully think can carry forth into the playoffs.

Yet, I have to say, in all honesty, it is disappointing that after yet another quality road win for the Seahawks this year, I see and hear stuff on the internet that forces me into taking a defensive position regarding this team, and this quarterback. It even went so far as finding myself in a Threads exchange with Mina Kimes after I saw her posting the famous three headed kiju dragon meme where she took a shot at the Seattle offense that, in the end, did put up 27 points on the road against a team fighting for their division title.

It seems like it is not enough anymore that your team scores enough points to get the win. For today’s NFL fans and those who cover the game, it has to be style points. God forbid your quarterback fumbles the ball in wet conditions, or throws a pick trying to take an aggressive shot at a touchdown. Nah. Badass stellar defense and a strong run game just isn’t sexy enough to get that all important W. The QB has to be at peak Joe Burrow levels, of else it just isn’t good enough.

So instead of celebrating how good Seattle’s defense played (which was absolutely badass in every way), and how fantastic Zach Charbonnet ran the ball (which was superb), we need to hear analysts talk about how much they don’t trust Sam Darnold who has put up numbers this season very similar to Josh Allen, and Justin Herbert. Well, fine. Maybe they can trust Big Cat Williams and a Seahawk defense a bit more.

After all, it wasn’t that long ago when your dad sat you in front of a Seahawks game about a dozen years ago and said to you that defense wins championships, and if memory stands correct, I believe that he also said that it is important to run the ball, as well. So maybe hang your hat on that after this game in Carolina, if Darnold’s Herbert-esque numbers aren’t impressing you enough.

For myself, these Seahawks have exceeded my expectations this year. At the start of the season, I had them pegged for about eleven wins if things broke well, and a wild card spot, and they have done better than that. With one game left to go, they will meet the 49ers in Santa Clara for the division title next Saturday.

You can lament all that you want to about how much better that 49er offense looks over Seattle’s. You can have all the fear and concern you feel you need to have about Darnold in that matchup, as well. You do you.

For my part, I would much rather have the Seahawk defense over the 49er one, and I am a big believer in defenses winning titles. We shall see soon enough what comes out of that matchup. WE. SHALL. SEE,

Personally, I am both excited about this game and a bit nervous. With a concussion injury to Rashid Shaheed, it does feel like the 49ers will have caught a key break in terms of Sheed’s impact on Seattle’s offense and special teams. That said, there is very little about the 49er defense that I find impressive, and I do think that Seattle’s defense matches up against Brock Purdy significantly better than anything else he’s played against this year.

Of course, I would love nothing more than this team winning the division on the road in Santa Clara this Saturday, but if that does not happen, and they are a wildcard team, I really like how this team is built this year to win on the road in the playoffs. This is a road warrior team that has only lost on the road twice in Macdonald’s two years of coaching them, They win with defense, special teams, and an explosive offense that features a quarterback who has played his better ball this year in the fourth quarter of games with everything on the line.

So there is that, too.

In the meantime.. Go Hawks.