The Seahawks are now the hunted in the Super Bowl chase, but they might not even get the chance to defend their crown.
The Seattle Seahawks have gone from the hunter to the hunted in 2026, entering the new year as the NFL's apex predator.
After their Super Bowl win, Seattle is now at the top of the pile, but now that brings its own set of challenges the team has to face in the coming months.
Each week, Seattle will get every team's best shot because who wouldn't want their own pound of flesh from the champs? So, the road to back-to-back titles is one that is perhaps harder than the one walked last season.
But that isn't the only reason it will be extremely difficult.
The NFC West, you can easily make the case, is the best division in football, with the Los Angeles Rams, San Francisco 49ers, and the Arizona Cardinals all on the schedule twice.
The Rams and 49ers are among the NFL's elite, so the Seahawks, in reality, could find it hard even to punch their ticket to the playoffs, let alone make the big game.
And for CBS Sports' Tyler Sullivan, he's revealed what he thinks is a worst-case scenario for Seattle in 2026.
"Seattle suffers a bit of a Super Bowl hangover and faces tougher sledding in 2026 with a bigger target on its back," Sullivan wrote. "Not only that, but the division race could easily slip through its fingers. The Rams and/or 49ers could jump the Seahawks in the standings, making a path to the playoffs more challenging and potentially forcing them to go on the road to get back to the Super Bowl."
With the 49ers getting healthy, plus adding Mike Evans and Osa Odighizuwa, along with the Rams signing Myles Garrett, Trent McDuffie and Jaylen Watson, they are loaded as well.
Whereas Seattle said goodbye to some key pieces, most notably Kenneth Walker, and didn't sign a big outside free agent, instead focusing on re-signing their own in Jaxon Smith-Njigba.
The task of repeating as champs is nearly impossible, with only two teams managing the feat since 2004 (New England Patriots, Kansas City Chiefs), and now, with the NFC West gauntlet, it looms as a challenge.
But is it one that Mike Macdonald and his team can take on? Absolutely, but there is a different dynamic Seattle has to face this season.
They are the hunted, not the hunter.
