Trey Wingo: The Seahawks, not Rams, ‘still the team to beat’

The Seattle Seahawks are coming off one of the most dominant Super Bowl-winning seasons of the past quarter-century.

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During their run to the Lombardi Trophy, they compiled a plus-246 point differential across both the regular season and postseason, which is the highest mark by a Super Bowl champion since the 1999 St. Louis Rams. And they did so while winning 14 of their final 15 games, capped by a smothering performance on the sport’s biggest stage from their top-ranked scoring defense.

However, many analysts and prognosticators are tabbing the NFC West rival Los Angeles Rams – not the Seahawks – as the favorites heading into 2026.

Former longtime SportsCenter and NFL Live anchor Trey Wingo told Seattle Sports’ Bump and Stacy that while he disagrees with that perspective, he understands the reasoning.

To begin with, the Rams were by far the Seahawks’ toughest obstacle this past season. The teams split a pair of nail-biting regular-seasons showdowns and then played another down-to-the-wire classic in Seattle’s 31-27 NFC Championship Game triumph.

The Rams then addressed their biggest weakness this offseason, overhauling their cornerback room by trading for All-Pro Trent McDuffie and signing Jaylen Watson in free agency.

“The Seahawks just were better than everybody last year,” Wingo said. “They were better than everybody, (but) they were only slightly better than the Rams. And the Rams were the only team down the stretch of the season that really scored anything against that Seahawks defense. … They were the only ones that figured out the secret sauce.

“And so I’m sure a lot of people were like, OK, well, they were this close a year ago. … Maybe the Rams can figure out a way.”

Wingo added that the Rams’ more flashy profile also plays a role.

“I think that honestly, there’s a lot of pizzazz when it comes to the Rams,” Wingo said. “They make a lot of splashy moves every offseason. They have one of the more interesting head coaches who has all those little quirks and things and he’s a good-looking guy and he lives in L.A. and he can memorize every play he’s ever had. There’s a little bit of that savant thing with him, right? That’s an easy sell to a lot of people.”

Yet from Wingo’s perspective, the Seahawks still deserve to be the favorite.

“They deserved everything that they got, and I think they deserve the respect of being the team to beat until somebody beats him,” Wingo said. “Look, the thing about the NFL (is) they sell hope, they sell turnover. … The NFL is really good at selling that.

“But Seattle, to me, is still the team to beat – not only in the NFC West, but also in the NFC, period – until someone takes them down.”

Listen to the full conversation with Trey Wingo at this link or in the audio player near the middle of this story. Tune into Bump and Stacy weekdays from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.

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