COLUMN: The perfect path to the Super Bowl for the Seahawks
MIKE MAYNARD | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 5 months, 4 weeks AGO
Seattle Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald stands on the field during an NFL football game against the San Francisco 49ers, Saturday Jan. 03, 2026, in Santa Clara, Calif. (AP Photo/Scot Tucker)
AP
One of the best time periods of the sports calendar is here – playoff football. As the college football playoff semifinals conclude, fans from across the country can remain comfortable on the couch as wild-card weekend kicks off for the NFL.
12 teams will battle it out on their respective ends of the bracket to earn a chance to play at least one more game. Most importantly, to inch closer to claiming football immortality by hoisting the Lombardi Trophy in Santa Clara, Calif., the host of Super Bowl 60.
As the top seed, the Seattle Seahawks will play the lowest remaining seed in the NFC after this weekend.
Who should they root for?
No matter what team it is, their odds are promising since they will host every game in the playoffs up to the conference championship. If all of the higher seeds win this weekend, it will be the Carolina Panthers (8-9). Their record says enough.
While I’ve enjoyed the Panthers’ rise this season and Bryce Young finally turning it around, teams like this are not equipped to make a deep run. A young quarterback, young players and an overall lack of experience in the postseason will likely hold them back this year.
Could the Los Angeles Rams (12-5) find themselves back in Seattle for another prime-time matchup?
Matthew Stafford is playing at an MVP level this season. The Rams as a whole have been one of the most elite in the entire NFL. However, Seattle had their number last time these two met. They had to do it in overtime, but Sam Darnold and the fellas found a way to win. Of all the potential divisional matchups, the Rams arguably pose the biggest threat.
If the lower-seeded San Francisco 49ers or Green Bay Packers get to the divisional round, that means the Philadelphia Eagles (11-6) or the Chicago Bears (11-6) were eliminated. The Seahawks just beat the Niners on the road; if they meet again at home, the result will be the same.
The Packers have been in shambles since Micah Parsons went down with a season-ending injury. With the Seahawks being regarded as one of the most well-rounded teams in the NFL right now by mainstream pundits, this team could dismantle the Packers with ease.
Whichever team they meet in the NFC Championship, that will likely be the hardest challenge they face all season. In moments like these, a player with the most pressure to perform is Darnold. As we have hit the final stretch of the football season, chatter has picked up about whether he can lead a team on a playoff run, or will he just fall apart as he did in Minnesota last year?
Even after leading this team to a comeback win over the Rams the other week, managing the game against the Niners and winning seven straight to finish the season. Darnold has been sharp this season. When he had a bad game, he showed multiple times how he learned from those moments and made the right adjustments.
However, questioning around Darnold will persist as the playoffs unfold. The Seahawks just need to stay grounded in what they have been doing this year. They are not the top seed for no reason or by dumb luck.
This is a Super Bowl team.
ARTICLES BY MIKE MAYNARD
Correia reflects on making All-State team
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Quincy standout ‘Duckie’ Workinger returns home to lead Vikings womens wrestling
MOSES LAKE — Shannon “Duckie” Workinger was named the new head coach of women’s wrestling at Big Bend Community College on June 18, bringing one of the Basin’s own back to help build the next generation of women’s wrestlers. “I'm super excited,” Workinger said. “I spent some time wrestling at different places, and it feels really good to be able to come back to the community that I was born in and really establish more connections here and build on the ones that I already have, and just help grow our Basin into a great wrestling (community), even better than it already is, because we have some good wrestlers that come from here.”
ACH wrestlers earn All-American honors at women’s national duals
COULEE CITY — Karis Butler and Kyanna Garza from Almira/Coulee-Hartline earned All-American status after a strong showing in the 2026 Women’s National Duals in Westfield, Indiana that ran from June 16-20. “It feels really good,” Karis said. “It was very surprising last year when I got on here, and then this year they were like, ‘You can go to whatever weight class you want,’ and it made me feel very recognized for the hard work I've put in.” Wrestlers competed in freestyle wrestling and Greco-Roman throughout the four-day tournament. Karis competed in both earning a 7-1 record in freestyle and 4-3 in Greco-Roman. Throughout her path in the tournament, she noted a lot of growth as a wrestler came out of it.