This Sunday saw the red-hot Seahawks defense play a merely adequate first half (in which they gave up a rushing touchdown for the first time since early November) before dominating the second half, powering Seattle to a 17-7 win over the San Francisco 49ers. The win clinches nothing for the Seahawks, who could theoretically still miss the playoffs, but it did make their chances look really, really good while eliminating San Francisco. Is it extra sweet, effectively ending Jim Harbaugh’s tenure as our rival team’s coach? No, because whoever replaces him will be less gifable. Once more for posterity, Jim, your thoughts?

harbaughfreak.gif

So good. So much fun.

And we’ve been having fun all year on our Insufferable Journey to Rewinnining the Super Bowl. But you know what? That fun ends now. Things are now officially serious. If the Seahawks win their last two games, in which they will be 7+ point favorites, they will clinch a postseason bye and likely secure the number-one seed in the NFC. The stakes couldn’t be higher. The actual, metaphorical Super Bowl Rewinnining Avenue is being laid right now, just south of Pioneer Square (with notably more success than other current road-building projects in the area). No more fooling.

Let’s break down Sunday’s win and the team’s road forward:

• Marshawn Lynch is so good. It goes without saying, but I’m going to keep saying it. So good. So so so good.

• You know who else is good? Earl Thomas. What a good football player he is. So very good at the football. It would be cool if these guys played for the same team.

earlshawn.jpg
  • (via @Jose8BS)

Let me rephrase: It’s so cool these guys play for the same team.

• In his 51 career NFL games (regular and postseason) Russell Wilson has 23 career wins by 10+ points and 0 losses by 10+ points. This statistic tells me both that Wilson is awesome, and that for three years the Seahawks have not played a football game where they weren’t competitive. I almost miss Sundays when I could tune out after a couple hours. Oh, well… I guess I’ll just have to deal with fiercely contested Seahawks games interspersed with blow-out wins. Bah humbug.

• Colin Kaepernick was bad at football on Sunday, and looks to be something other than the answer for San Francisco. Also, his head continues to be too small for the rest of his body, meaning that rooting against him continues to be very easy.

• Russell Wilson received a roughing-the-passer penalty in the second half that was a terrible call and led to a Seahawks touchdown. Truly terrible. This bullet point exists solely to prove that I’m not a complete homer. What a bad call!

• This is how a notable fan of the Seahawks’ top NFC rival felt about today:

This Kaelin guy knows how to deal with a crisis, am I right? What? Are OJ jokes dated? Because if so I doubt that the Haley Joel Osment bit coming up is gonna go over well.

• Here goes…

The Seahawks have kicked their Super Bowl hangover, and they have gone one step further, paying their hangover forward to their opponents who are now 0-8 in games after they play the Seahawks. The Seahawks are like a tiny hangover Haley Joel Osment. Oh no, PAY IT FORWARD SPOILER ALERT, HJO dies at the end! I’ll find a new filmic metaphor for what Seahawks do to their opponents…. um… they have a Sixth Sense for turning them into dead people? I’m sorry, let’s move on…

• Who scares me right now in the NFC? Well, the Seahawks have played every contender save for one (and yes, they lost to the Cowboys, but Romo isn’t beating Seattle in the playoffs), and that one remaining team, the Detroit Lions, could be a problem. They have the league’s best running defense, and are likely capable of neutralizing the Seahawks’ biggest offensive strength. On the other side of the ball, they have a receiver in Calvin Johnson, who just may be good enough to beat Richard Sherman on occasion, and another receiver in Golden Tate, who is hungry for revenge against Seattle. The Lions’ special teams are awful, but the Seahawks haven’t been great themselves in that phase of the game.

But do I think the Lions will beat the Seahawks if they play in the playoffs? Come on. Come. On. No way. This is the INSUFFERABLE Road to Rewinnining the Super Bowl, and no such ground will be ceded.

• In huge Twitter-related news (the most important type of news), Seahawks kicker, Middlebury alumnus, and all around hero Steven Hauschka is now on Twitter. Let’s see what he has to say?

BOOM! Whose tweet? Schka’s tweet!

The Seahawks head to Arizona Sunday night to face the Cardinals, who have yet to lose at home because their jerseys are made out of magic beans, and their helmets are made out of magic bean paste. What I’m saying is the Cardinals have gotten really, really lucky in every respect, save for injuries. And those injuries are going to cost them on Sunday as they’re forced to start Ryan Freakin’ Lindley at quarterback. Let’s take a look at Lindley:

str-092110-lindley7.jpg
  • (via San Diego State University)

This local weatherman against the Legion of Boom? I like our chances.