New chapter set to begin in action-packed Seahawks-Packers rivalry

Dec 15, 2024, 12:10 AM | Updated: 1:33 pm

Seattle Seahawks Tyler Lockett Green Bay Packers 2020 playoff game...

Seattle Seahawks WR Tyler Lockett in action against the Packers in a 2020 playoff game. (Stacy Revere/Getty Images)

(Stacy Revere/Getty Images)

Seattle Sports

Over the past two decades, the Seattle Seahawks and Green Bay Packers have been the two winningest franchises in the NFC.

Along the way, they have produced plenty of memorable matchups.

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There was the 2003 wild-card playoff game, when Matt Hasselbeck’s infamous “We want the ball and we’re going to score” line was followed almost immediately by a game-winning pick-six from Green Bay’s Al Harris.

There was the 2012 “Fail Mary” game, when Golden Tate’s hotly debated game-winning catch on the final play gave Seattle a controversial victory on Monday Night Football.

And of course, there was the 2014 NFC championship game, when the Seahawks staged one of the wildest and wackiest comebacks in NFL postseason history to stun the Packers and advance to their second straight Super Bowl.

Seattle and Green Bay renew their rivalry on Sunday night at Lumen Field, where the two proud franchises will clash again in a primetime showdown of playoff hopefuls.

“I’m learning this is a big one – not just because it’s the next game, (but) because it’s the Packers and there’s some rivalry there,” said Seahawks linebacker Ernest Jones IV, who came to Seattle in an Oct. 23 trade with the Tennessee Titans.

Jones will be far from the only newcomer to the Seahawks-Packers rivalry on Sunday night.

In fact, this matchup will bear little resemblance to the teams’ last meeting – a 17-0 shutout win by the Packers at Lambeau Field in Week 10 of 2021.

First-year head coach Mike Macdonald will be pacing Seattle’s sideline instead of Pete Carroll. Geno Smith and Jordan Love will be playing quarterback, rather than Russell Wilson and Aaron Rodgers. Franchise icons like Bobby Wagner, Davante Adams and Randall Cobb are each playing elsewhere.

But it goes far beyond that. Of the 88 total players who appeared in that 2021 matchup, just six remain on Green Bay’s active roster and just five remain on Seattle’s.

That provides an opportunity for a new chapter to unfold in Seahawks-Packers lore.

And like so many games in this rivalry, this one carries high stakes. Seattle (8-5) looks to remain atop the NFC West in front of the hard-charging Los Angeles Rams, while Green Bay (9-4) looks to bolster its wild-card playoff positioning.

“It’s a big stage, obviously,” Macdonald said. “But that’s why you do all the things you do your whole life, and this whole year as a team, and all the steps that we’ve taken to earn this opportunity to have this stage with this amount at stake. So you’ve got to love it.”

The newness of this particular Seahawks-Packers matchup also extends to the head coaches. The last time Macdonald and Green Bay head coach Matt LaFleur were on opposite sidelines was in 2018 – back when Macdonald was the Baltimore Ravens’ linebackers coach and LaFleur was the Titans’ offensive coordinator.

“It’s been a minute,” Macdonald said. “The last time was 2018 when he was in Tennessee, but completely different operation. … You’ve got to do your homework. You’ve got to go through, hit all the boxes, make sure you’re as thorough as you can be.

“We’ve had coaches on staff who have played the Packers in the past too. Utilizing that feedback and just kind of having all hands on deck to try to generate as much information as you can.”

These teams may be relatively unfamiliar with each other now, but that could change awfully quick over the next month.

In the current NFC playoff picture, Seattle is the No. 3 seed and Green Bay is the No. 6 seed. If those seedings hold, the Seahawks would host the Packers in the wild-card playoff round on Jan. 11, 12 or 13.

But in order to make a home playoff game a reality – whether it’s against the Packers or another opponent – Seattle knows it still has plenty of work left to do.

“We understand what’s at stake,” Smith said. “You want to have meaningful games late in December. You want to have your crowd – these great fans that we have – cheering and having something to be excited for in these meaningful games.

“We’ve just got to take it one day, one game, at a time. We can’t put more emphasis on it than it needs to be. It’s a very big game. We know what’s at stake, but it’s just the next game. We’ve got to make sure we approach it the right way and take it step by step.”