Packers’ Slaughter of Seahawks One for the Ages

Let’s revel one final time at just how dominant the Green Bay Packers were in their 38-10 demolition of the once-feared Seattle Seahawks.

The Seahawks had not lost a game, playoffs or regular season, by more than 10 points since 95 games ago – against the Cincinnati Bengals in game 7 of the 2011 season. This predates the Russell Wilson era that started with game 1 in 2012.

The Pete Carroll era in Seattle started in 2010. In Carroll’s 120 games as Seattle’s head coach, he has never before been defeated by a score of this magnitude – and that included when Carroll was starting the likes of Tarvaris Jackson, Charlie Whitehurst, and an aging Matt Hasselbeck at quarterback.

Russell Wilson’s passer rating in the game was 43.7. In his NFL career, the only other games in which his rating has been under 49 are: against Tampa Bay two weeks before (38.6), against the 49ers (38.7) and the Rams (45.8) in his rookie year, and against Green Bay in the 2014 playoffs (44.3)… and Wilson only got his rating up from 20s due to the Packers playing prevent defense for the entire fourth quarter.

Wilson threw five interceptions. When else was a Seattle quarterback was so victimized? It happened to Jon Kitna (1999), Dave Krieg (1984) and Jim Zorn (1980). Wilson avoids the team record, however, as Zorn had a six-interception game in 1976 – the year the Seahawks joined the NFL.

Seattle’s success over the last five years has been in large part due to the team’s turnover margin. In 2012, the Seahawks were +13 (5th in the NFL); in 2013, +20 (1st); in 2014, +10 (4th); and, in 2015, +7 (4th). In 2016, they were having another fine year, at +6 going into the Packers game. Coming out of the game, they were at zero.

What was the highest passer rating yielded by the acclaimed Seattle defense prior to playing the Packers? I went back to the beginning of the 2014 season (49 games), and here are the top 10 opposing QB ratings.

1. Austin Davis (STL): 132.3
2. Philip Rivers (SD): 124.2
3. Aaron Rodgers (GB): 116.9
4. Nick Foles (STL): 115.8
5. Tony Romo (DAL): 110.2
6. Cam Newton (CAR): 108.3
7. Drew Brees (NO): 107.4
8. Jameis Winston (TB): 106.3
9. Matt Ryan (ATL): 102.9
10. Tom Brady (NE): 101.1

Against Seattle, Rodgers posted a rating of 150.8 – and he did so on two bad legs, with the temperature in the 20s, without his starting tight end and with a running back starting his first game at the position. It is very doubtful that the Seahawks have ever yielded such a high passer rating in the history of the franchise.

Across the board, it was a performance for the ages by Green Bay.