This loss basically sums up the entire season for the Seattle Seahawks.

With the season essentially on the line, the Seahawks sunk to the level of their opponent; a terrible Steelers team without an identity, got bullied, and are now watching their playoff chances slip away.

Unfortunately, there was no one to blame but the Seahawks themselves.

This game looked ugly from the start for Seattle. While the Seahawks were able to move the ball pretty well through the air and on the ground, the total inability to stop the passing-hamstrung Steelers (Mason Rudolph at quarterback) led to a pretty convincing loss outside of the box score.

Giving up 202 yards on the ground to a team without its starting quarterback is downright embarrassing.

That’s basically what this comes down to. Everyone in the NFL world knew the Steelers were going to come into this game and run the ball. The Seahawks, who were largely in control of their own destiny, knew this as well as anyone, yet they were totally unable to stop the one thing that was currently standing between them and spot in the playoffs.

This loss may not totally kill Seattle’s playoff chances (currently at 33%), but it sure doesn’t help, and it largely ensures that someone else is in control of their own destiny.

A team like Seattle should never have to be hoping for other results to happen to put them in the playoffs.

Sadly, this perfectly epitomizes this season for the Seahawks. There have been flashes of greatness and some awesome moments for the franchise, but at the end of the day there were always questions about how this team would handle pressure, and now we have a disappointing answer to that question. 

Seahawks have a lot riding on matchup with the Steelers

There is a lot riding on this game.