JUST IN: Why The Seattle Seahawks Are Moving On From Pete Carroll As Head Coach.

Former Seattle Seahawks head coach and all-time great is currently an adviser to the team.

After 14 seasons, a Super Bowl, two Super Bowl appearances overall, and the most victories (137) in franchise history, the Seahawks are parting ways with head coach Pete Carroll. Finally, after he produced a 9-8 season—his 11th winning season in Seattle—they are letting him go.

It’s a shocking move to many. It comes as little surprise to those who have followed the club attentively in recent years.

The Seahawks’ record explains why Seattle is in the postseason even if you disregard Carroll’s remarks from a few days ago that he planned to return as the team’s coach the next season and their non-playoff winning record.

For almost ten years, the Seahawks have not been a serious Super Bowl contender. The last time Seattle was a real threat as a Super Bowl candidate was the day they lost Super Bowl XLIX to the New England Patriots.

It’s true that they have continuously been in the running for the playoffs ever since. They have posted five seasons with ten or more wins, and they have qualified for the playoffs six times.

Since then, they’ve only gone 3-6 in the playoffs and haven’t gone past the divisional round since the 2014 campaign.

It was evident what happened: Carroll’s Seahawks have reached a plateau.

That’s not meant as a slight to Carroll; he’s still a capable head coach, and the players continue to enjoy his positive, dynamic demeanor. Indeed, it’s evident from his farewell press conference that he wants to resume coaching.

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This season, eight NFL teams have lost coaches—the highest number since record-tying 2021.

Carroll remarked, “I had to compete pretty hard to be the coach.” “I wanted to make sure that I defended the players, the coaches, and the accomplishments that we had made.” Not so we could still be the coach, but so we could have the opportunity to succeed and maintain the organization. That was my goal in the fight.

It nearly seemed as though Carroll was trying to persuade other NFL teams to employ him as their next head coach as he was speaking after it was announced that he would not be returning to the position.

“I’m absolutely jacked. I’m energized,” Carroll declared. “I’m not worn out. I’m not exhausted. You all gave it your all. I wasn’t tired of you. I’m meant to go lay on a cot somewhere because the season is coming to an end. I don’t feel that way.

Carroll being hired as head coach by one of these seven other coaching destinations for the 2024 campaign wouldn’t be shocking, in reality.

But it was time for him to move on from his time as Seattle’s head coach.

Apart from the glaring lack of performance—the Seahawks haven’t enjoyed consistent postseason success in almost ten years—the on-field performance was a far cry from the heyday of the “Legion of.

Carroll, who comes from a defensive coaching background, was unable to recreate that identity after his first few years in Seattle and the departure of several important players, including Richard Sherman, Earl Thomas, and Kam Chancellor.

Only this season, the defense ranked 30th in yards allowed and 25th in points allowed. Their run defense, which ranked in the bottom half of the NFL overall—31st in rushing yards, 30th in rushing touchdowns, and 27th in yards per attempt—was a particularly obvious weakness.

They finished 25th in points and 26th in yards allowed the previous season, thus those stats were the same. Last season, the run defense performed just as poorly, finishing 30th in rushing yards, 27th in rushing touchdowns, and 26th overall.

This was true even though the Seahawks had a significant turnover in their defensive line, adding new players to the unit and recalling veteran and longtime captain Bobby Wagner.

It carried on a pattern in which the Seahawks had finished in the bottom three in defensive yardage allowed for the previous four seasons and had not finished in the top 10 in points allowed since the beginning of the 2017 campaign.

Not to mention, despite having young players like Kenneth Walker, Zach Charbonnet, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, and Noah Fant and past Pro Bowl players like Geno Smith, DK Metcalf, and Tyler Lockett, the offensive unit lacks identity and consistency.

This season, the Seahawks were 17th in points and 21st in yards.

Finally, Seattle had not been able to compete with their main opponent, the San Francisco 49ers, in the previous seasons. They have fallen short of San Francisco five times in a row, with a total score of 148–72. The Seahawks have lost all three of their previous matchups by an average of 16 points apiece, so the scores haven’t been close.

Carroll recognized in his press conference that it was evident the Seahawks needed to take a different course.

It isn’t about me leading the team in this. It matters that this organization succeeds and stays on course for the long run. I get that, Carroll remarked. “In my industry, I’m about as old as they come. They will eventually need to make some decisions.

The move doesn’t seem to make sense when taking things at face value. It’s not surprising, though, given the team’s general lack of success in recent years, the alarming erosion of the defense, and the inconsistent offense while fielding one of the league’s most talented units.

It was time to let Carroll go.