Seahawks trample Rams 20-6, clinch NFC’s top seed

Seattle’s second-half comeback trumped a frustrating start.

It was as true for the Seahawks’ regular-season finale against St. Louis as it was for a season in which the defending Super Bowl champions were 3-3 at one point in October and as recently as November seemed in very real danger of missing the playoffs.

But as linebacker Bruce Irvin ran toward the end zone in the fourth quarter, returning Seattle’s second interception of the game 49 yards for a touchdown, the early struggles – both in the game and this season – were relegated to the kind of adversity that sweetens the eventual success.

Seattle 20, St. Louis 6. It was a victory and a validation. A game that guaranteed the Seahawks the top seed in the NFC playoffs for the second consecutive year.

Seattle finished 12-4, tied with Green Bay and Dallas for the best record in the conference. The Seahawks have the best conference record of those teams, though. They will now have a bye through the first-round of the playoffs and host the lowest remaining seed in the NFC playoffs during the divisional round.

Hard to imagine that back on Oct. 19 when the Seahawks lost in St. Louis 28-26 despite outgaining the Rams 463 yards to 275, as St. Louis pulled off a special-teams coup to drop Seattle to 3-3. Heck, it was hard to imagine the Seahawks earning the No. 1 overall seed in the NFC playoffs during the first half on Sunday as Seattle outgained St. Louis 189-66 yet trailed 6-0 in large part because of a pair of turnovers and one turnover on downs.

The first occurred on a pass overthrown by Russell Wilson – only the second time he has been intercepted in the last seven games – and the second on a ball stripped from Marshawn Lynch, setting up the second of St. Louis’ two field goals.

Throw in a fourth-down failure by Seattle, which opted to go for it on fourth-and-5 instead of attempting a 52-yard field goal in the first quarter, and you could argue the Seahawks would have only trailed 3-0 at halftime had the offense never taken a snap.

Seattle’s offense came back with a pair of field-goal drives in the third quarter to tie the score, but fittingly enough it was the defense that set up Seattle’s first two touchdowns of the game. Defensive lineman Jordan Hill picked off a pass that Rams quarterback Shaun Hill was trying to throw away. Seattle took over, and Lynch scored on a 6-yard run to give Seattle the lead.

The defense scored on its own the next possession as linebacker Bobby Wagner knocked loose a pass intended for tight end Jared Cook before Irvin caught the ball and returned it 49 yards for his second touchdown of the season.

The Rams were inches away from the end zone in the fourth quarter, running back Benny Cunningham diving toward the end zone as he was being tackled by cornerback Byron Maxwell. Safety Earl Thomas came over and knocked the ball out just short of the goal line, and it then bounced out of the end zone for a touchback, possession going to Seattle.

Wilson threw for 239 yards but was sacked three times. Lynch rushed for 69 yards and finished the regular season with 17 total touchdowns.

It was the fourth time during Seattle’s six-game winning streak in which the Seahawks didn’t allow a touchdown. They’ve given up only 39 points over those six games, and for a team that seemed in distinct danger of missing the playoffs after that loss in St. Louis two months ago, it was only fitting that the Seahawks not only come back to beat the Rams to end the regular season, but they did it so very decisively.

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