In all fairness to Tical21, there's been some glaring issues that I haven't seen the team adapt to that have eventually led to Seattle's fall from grace. I'm not trolling or being some kind of apologist for him or whatever, it's more I'm trying to understand where he's coming from, and I think I know what he's trying to say. I'm also not a real Xs and Os guy, but I can see where something is impacting the bigger picture, and I think that's where he's coming from (correct me if I'm wrong, though, Tical21).
Seattle's issues IMO are not one of those things that happened out of the blue this year, but happened gradually over time, and superstars like Wilson, Lynch, Wagner, etc. have been able to effectively cover it up. Let's not lie to ourselves here, either: The division as a whole sucking ass from a straw for a while has also effectively covered up the stink, as Seattle IMO didn't have any real consistent competition in the division since XLIX, so the Seahawks year after year would practically get into the playoffs by default, regardless of their issues, only to run into a wall and have their flaws on full display when they go against a legitimate SB contender (i.e. whoever they faced in the Divisional round).
On a side note, when I say "consistent competition," I mean teams that were consistently legit contenders and would force Seattle to improve. I don't consider teams like SF or Arizona over the past decade to be consistently good enough to be considered a major threat during that stretch. All they were really good at doing during that time was handing out free wins to whoever came to play them because they largely couldn't get out of their own way, except for maybe one or two good seasons. But I digress...
The years would go by, and key issues that plagued them year after year continued to not get addressed during times like the off-season and draft, because they could always rely on guys like Wilson to come through with a last minute miracle to save the day. As Mike Holmgren said once, close games like that does nothing for blood pressure, but it makes for great TV.
That's all fine and dandy, but it became pretty evident over the past few years since XLIX that the FO did not build the team for sustained success, and figured they could just throw money and draft picks at some big names (e.g. Jimmy Graham, Jamal Adams), and they could have the superstars carry the team (because only big names matter), while they throw a bunch of relative no-names in comparison into other spots. It made me feel like they would rather go after big names instead of being the team that coaches up their drafted talent, and instead, the coaching staff tells the young players to play angry and full of passion, even if it's to a fault (see: DK Metcalf).
But now, it's reached a point where failing to adapt to a changing division (never mind league) and riding the nostalgia train of thinking what worked back during the SB run will work indefinitely has come back to bite Seattle in the ass.
The division has improved over time, and none of them are a lock to pad Seattle's win column anymore. Even SF is showing promise.
It makes me feel like the Seahawks' coaching staff (i.e. Pete?) is like that guy at your job that was really good at something once upon a time, but rested on the laurels of past accomplishments and thought everyone would live in reverence of him forever, just because he was great once upon a time.
Guys like Pete Carroll are looking less like the Super Bowl-winning/contending coach of old, and are starting to look more and more like the head coach equivalent of Al Bundy.
TL;DR: The league changed and adapted, and the Seahawks largely didn't, and here they are today.
