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Seattle Seahawks 2023 season: A 9-8 finish, playoff miss, and the end of the Pete Carroll era.
The 2023 season was the Seattle Seahawks' 48th in the National Football League (NFL) and their 14th and final season under the head coach/general manager tandem of Pete Carroll and John Schneider. The Seahawks matched their 9–8 record from the previous year, but unlike 2022, it was not enough to qualify for the playoffs, as they finished in third place in the division behind the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Rams, and in a three-way tie with the Green Bay Packers and New Orleans Saints for the last Wild Card spot, which the Packers claimed on a strength of victory tiebreaker.
Quick Facts
- Division
- NFC West
- Notable era
- 1970s-1990s
- Playoff significance
- High frequency of divisional and conference championship meetings
- Key location factor
- Geographic proximity between Dallas, Texas and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Lore & Background
Despite a 5–2 start, key injuries to Geno Smith, Kenneth Walker III, DK Metcalf, and Devon Witherspoon, and poor defensive play led to the Seahawks losing five of their next six. While the Seahawks would win two games in a row, a loss to the Steelers cost them control of their own destiny. In total, Seattle played 11 games and went 3–8 against teams that finished with a winning record (Cincinnati being the only one that missed the postseason), culminating in a collapse that cost them an appearance in the postseason.
This was the second time in three seasons that Seattle missed the playoffs, and was the first season since 2009 that Dave Canales was not on the team's payroll, as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers hired him to be their offensive coordinator for one year. Canales would go on to be hired as the head coach of the Carolina Panthers the following year. On March 26, 2023, the Seahawks resigned longtime linebacker Bobby Wagner, who played for the Los Angeles Rams during the previous season, for a second stint with the team.
On January 10, 2024, three days following the season's conclusion, head coach Pete Carroll and the Seahawks mutually agreed to part ways, having served since 2010. Carroll would transition to an unspecified advisory role within the Seahawks organization before subsequently being hired as head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders the following year.
Reader's Guide
The Seattle Seahawks drew an average home attendance of 68,735 in eight home games in the 2023 NFL season, the 18th highest in the league. The Seahawks are in the NFC West. They are not defending Super Bowl champions entering 2026. The Seahawks have not been featured on Hard Knocks as of the 2024 season.
Did You Know?
- Pete Carroll and the Seahawks mutually agreed to part ways on January 10, 2024, after 14 seasons.
- Bobby Wagner was resigned by the Seahawks on March 26, 2023, after playing for the Rams in 2022.
- Dave Canales left the Seahawks after 2022 to become the Buccaneers' offensive coordinator, then became Panthers head coach.
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