Seattle, WA
Barely Relevant: Well, it’s over for this year’s Seahawks
Author’s note: This is the seventeenth installment of my weekly column, Barely Relevant.
Well, it’s over. And, for what it’s worth, the Seattle Seahawks had a pretty darn good year. Pretty darn good is a tough phrase to unpack, though, mostly because it doesn’t mean anything. How can something be pretty good? Something is either good or it isn’t. In that respect, anything under good is bad. Thus, pretty good = bad. Thus, the Seattle Seahawks’ 2024 season.
Yes, we’re guaranteed to finish with a winning record. No, we didn’t make the playoffs. Yes, we have a brand-new coaching staff. No, our preseason free-agent additions didn’t pan out like we had hoped they would. Yes, some people blame our quarterback. No, some other people don’t think it’s our quarterback. Yes, our offensive line was again one of the worst in the NFL. No, we didn’t run the ball like we’d wanted. Yes, we should keep DK Metcalf. No, we should not keep DK Metcalf.
The wild mood swings involved in being a Seahawks fan have a juxtaposing pendulum effect that bounces like a migraine between my two temples. What are the answers? Who the hell knows? Certainly not John Schneider. And certainly not me. All he can do is attempt to juggle Geno and DK contracts while continuing to try to bring in quality free agents, and all I can do is hang out on my couch and go “yes!” and “damn!” which are words that have zero currency or worth.
Because no matter what anyone (us included) says over the next nine months, nothing else matters except how the Seahawks play – on the field during the regular season – next year. Oh, we’ll speculate wildly. And we’ll throw numbers around and feign confidence about new free agent this and new draft pick that, but it doesn’t matter a hell of beans because it’s just mind football.
This, right now, is as far as you’ll be from a game that matters all year.
For some reason, though, it doesn’t feel all that bad. Am I alone here? I don’t know about you, but my expectations weren’t that high. And I kind of like mind football. Of course, it sucks we missed the playoffs – and it CERTAINLY sucks the way we missed the playoffs (f-ing helmet bounce [I’m deflecting blame here]), but, hell, our defense looks promising. Our new head coach seems to know what he’s doing, our running backs look like ballers (if we can find an offensive coordinator who knows how to utilize them), and our second-year wide receiver is ready for lift-off.
If we can manage to figure out our quarterback situation and pick up some offensive linemen, Seattle could be poised to make things interesting. For some reason, I’m already ready to talk all about it. And the draft! There’s no mourning period here. Let’s hurry up and end this season and get into it.
Of course, in the grand scheme of things, nothing is going to matter until we start playing games that count again. But who wants to wait nine months to play football? Not me. That’s why every sportswriter you know is going to begin playing mind football right now.
Join us.
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON – SEPTEMBER 07: Brock Purdy #13 of the San Francisco 49ers celebrates a touchdown with Colton McKivitz #68 during the fourth quarter against the Seattle Seahawks during the game at Lumen Field on September 07, 2025 in Seattle, Was (Steph Chambers / Getty Images)
SEATTLE – This one is going to sting for the Seattle Seahawks.
Seattle was unable to hold onto a late lead as third-string tight end Jake Tonges ripped the game-winning touchdown catch away from cornerback Riq Woolen with 1:34 left to play. A chance to pull off a game-winning drive for themselves then slipped out of Sam Darnold’s fingers as tackle Abe Lucas was shoved back into Darnold’s arm by 49ers star pass rusher Nick Bosa to force the clinching fumble for the San Francisco 49ers in a 17-13 victory.
It’s only one game, but the Seahawks are quickly alone in last place in the NFC West as the 49ers, Los Angeles Rams and Arizona Cardinals each won their games on Sunday.
“We want to be able to defend home,” wide receiver Cooper Kupp said. “The guys are sick because they know the importance of winning here. There’s a weightiness to that in finding a way. This is not how we want to operate, and not what we want to do, and guys want to make that right.”
The Seahawks’ offense sputtered outside of star wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba. Seattle was just 3-for-10 on third down and saw the 49ers run 22 more offensive plays in the game.
Meanwhile, Seattle’s defense held together for most of the day with a pair of interceptions from Ernest Jones IV and Josh Jobe, along with a blocked field goal by Julian Love helping keep the 49ers off the scoreboard.
But when it was needed most, the 49ers made the play on both offense and defense to come out with the win while the Seahawks headed home 0-1.
“I think our guys played incredibly hard; played all 60 minutes; gave ourselves a chance to win at the end,” head coach Mike Macdonald said. “I think we have a really good football team and we’re not there yet, so let’s go work, figure out things we can do better, and move forward. Which we will.”
Here are the takeaways from the loss to the 49ers:
49ers won the key moments.
The result of NFL games can balance on a knife’s edge. Typically, a few plays here and there are the determining factors of who wins and who loses.
On Sunday, it was the 49ers that made those plays in the fourth quarter and the Seahawks didn’t.
Ricky Pearsall made a 45-yard catch over Woolen up the left sideline to move the 49ers into Seattle’s territory, then third-string tight end Jake Tonges wrested a touchdown catch away from Woolen in the end zone.
Tonges’ touchdown came on a third-and-3 when Seattle forced 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy to extend the play for eight seconds before finally throwing for the end zone. It was the type of throw that regularly finds its way into the hands of defenders for interceptions instead of their intended targets. However, Tonges worked back around Woolen to snatch the ball away for what ultimately served as the game-winning score.
“We played the first 9.9 of that 10-second play at the end phenomenally. The guy made a great play,” Macdonald said.
Woolen tried to catch the throw from Purdy and was beaten to the ball from behind by Tonges. Woolen also got a touch flat-footed on the throw to Pearsall earlier in the drive, which allowed the throw to get over his head.
“We’re here at the highest level, and Riq’s somebody that we trust to make those plays,” linebacker Ernest Jones IV said. “Regardless of who was in that situation, plays should have been made before that. The game should have never came down to the one or two plays towards the end. We could have never been in that situation.”
Once the 49ers took the lead, the Seahawks had a chance to answer. Darnold led the Seahawks 52 yards in five plays to get to the San Francisco 9-yard line. But Nick Bosa drove right tackle Abe Lucas back into Darnold’s arm, which caused a fumble that ended the comeback chance for Seattle.
“It came out off somebody,” Darnold said. “I don’t know who hit it or what. I think it was off one of our offensive lineman’s back. Yeah, didn’t slip out or anything like that.”
The ball may not have slipped out of Darnold’s hands, but the win definitely slipped out of Seattle’s grasp.
“I can’t sugar coat it; it sucks,” safety Julian Love said. “You’re waiting all offseason to play these guys and to take it to them. For them to come out on top is a touch pill to swallow.”
Jaxon Smith-Njigba can’t be the only productive offensive player.
Already coming off a 100-catch, 1,000-yard receiving season, Jaxon Smith-Njigba appears to have another big season ahead of him this year for Seattle.
However, he can’t be the only productive offensive piece if the Seahawks are going to have the season they’re hoping for.
Smith-Njigba was targeted 13 times on Sam Darnold’s 23 pass attempts, catching nine passes for 124 yards. The rest of the roster had just seven receptions combined for 26 yards.
Meanwhile, the running game managed just 3.2 yards per carry behind Zach Charbonnet’s 47 yards on 12 carries, and Ken Walker III’s 20 yards on 10 carries.
“Jax made a lot of great plays,” Macdonald said. “There is more opportunity for him out there, which I’m sure he’ll tell you.
“We’re going to count on everybody. See who else steps up. It’s not the Jax show every snap.”
Smith-Njigba had two catches for 50 yards on Seattle’s final drive as Danold was clearly looking in his direction with nearly every big throw. Smith-Njigba was up for the task and truly does appear set to ascend into the upper tier of wide receivers in the NFL this year.
But he’s going to need some help.
“After I came off the field after the game I knew that wasn’t our standard and how we do things,” Darnold said. “We knew that. I knew that personally. I talked to some of the guys already and we’re just going to continue to grow and get better from it and we’ll be all right.”
Special teams helped keep the Seahawks in the game.
The 49ers ran significantly more offensive plays than Seattle as they were able to maintain possession and kept pushing down the field. But two of those drives failed to end in points due to special teams mistakes by the 49ers that allowed Seattle to benefit.
Jake Moody clanged a 27-yard field goal try off the left upright late in the half that would have given the 49ers a 10-7 lead. Instead, the Seahawks were able to drive for a go-ahead field goal before the break on a 48-yard kick from Jason Myers.
In the third quarter, the 49ers had a 36-yard field goal try to tie the game at 10-10. Instead, the Seahawks ran through lineman Matt Hennessey on the left end, which allowed Julian Love to shoot into the backfield and block the kick to again thwart a San Francisco scoring chance.
“Obviously he missed one, and I was able to get the block on another,” Love said. “… I kind of jumped the gap, got a good launch, and thankfully got my hands on it. So, yeah, good play.”
Meanwhile, Myers made his field goal try from distance, Cody White had a big 36-yard kickoff return, and Tory Horton had a solid 12-yard punt return.
Missed opportunity to assert offensive identity, convert fourth down.
Given the struggles of the offense to sustain drives throughout the afternoon, the chance to lead a scoring drive with seven minutes left to play seemed to be the perfect chance for Seattle to flex its intended offensive identity.
The Seahawks took over with 7:06 remaining after Jobe’s interception of Purdy. Seattle turned back to their ground game as they tried to burn clock and put the game away.
And it started quite well.
Seattle gained 29 yards on five consecutive rushes to kill over three minutes of clock and move into San Francisco territory. But after Walker got stopped on second-and-6 for a 1-yard loss, it forced a throw on third down. Kupp came up with a 6-yard reception to set up a fourth-and-1 from the SF 19-yard line.
It’s not a clear-cut decision. Kick a field goal to take the lead, but leave over three minutes on the clock for your opponent, or risk getting nothing by going for the fourth down. And it’s easy to say that because what Seattle chose to do didn’t win them the game, that it was a mistake to kick the field goal.
Instead, we’ll just lament the lost opportunity for Seattle to invoke the running identity that they’ve preached this offseason. The Seahawks have talked repeatedly about wanting to be a running football team and that they’ll be committed to the running game. What better way to show that than to go get the yard you need on the ground against a division opponent in the fourth quarter?
Macdonald said they did consider going for it, but elected to defend the lead instead.
“I just felt like let’s go take a lead and let’s go play ball,” he said.
The Seahawks ultimately finished with just 67 yards on 22 carries from Charbonnet and Walker. Darnold added 14 yards on a pair of scrambles, and A.J. Barner and Jalen Milroe added three combined yards on a pair of carries for 84 total rushing yards in the game.
“Hot and cold,” Macdonald said. “We’ve got to maintain the ball better and be more efficient on early downs, convert more on third down. Good two-minute at the end. I mean, some good stuff, but we got to operate more efficiently and be better on first and second down to give us some third downs where we can convert and keep drives going”
The Source: Information in this story came from FOX 13 Seattle reporting.
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Seattle, WA
Seattle Sounders vs. Inter Miami live updates: Score, highlights, analysis of 2025 Leagues Cup final
SEATTLE — After weeks of play, it all comes down to this: Seattle Sounders FC and Inter Miami CF will square off in the Leagues Cup final Sunday (8 p.m. ET, AppleTV+), capping off the joint MLS-Liga MX competition.
The game is set to be played in front of a sell-out crowd at Seattle’s Lumen Field, with ticket sales surpassing a Leagues Cup record and approaching the stadium’s capacity of 68,000. At BetMGM, the Sounders are -160 favorites to lift the trophy with Miami coming in at +115.
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Miami and Seattle came out on top of the all-MLS semifinal to make it to Sunday’s final. Inter Miami defeated Orlando City 3-1 at home, overcoming Orlando’s 1-0 lead behind two goals from Argentine legend Lionel Messi: a penalty in the 77th minute and another goal in the 88th. Midfielder Telasco Segovia scored again for Miami in stoppage time to seal the victory.
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The Sounders, meanwhile, picked up a strong 2-0 victory over the LA Galaxy while away, taking the lead with an early goal from young star forward Pedro de la Vega. Another young forward, Osaze De Rosario, doubled that lead for Seattle in the 57th minute.
Messi and Co. took home the Leagues Cup trophy in 2023, and will have a chance to become the first team to secure the tournament title twice. (The first Leagues Cup was played in 2019, so only four teams have won it before.) Seattle, meanwhile, was runner-up in 2021, and will have a chance to add the Cup to its already large trophy case.
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Follow along with Yahoo Sports for live updates, highlights and more from the 2025 Leagues Cup final, featuring the Seattle Sounders and Inter Miami:
How to watch Sounders vs. Inter Miami in the 2025 Leagues Cup final
Date: Sunday, Aug. 31
Start time: 8 p.m. ET
Location: Lumen Field | Seattle, Washington
Streaming/TV: MLS Season Pass on Apple TV+/Univision/TUDN
Seattle, WA
Seattle Sounders vs. Inter Miami: Leagues Cup history awaits at Lumen Field | MLSSoccer.com
More than 60,000 fans are expected to attend Lumen Field for the championship clash, surpassing the tournament’s single-match attendance record by over 10,000 spectators.
Should the Sounders capitalize on home-field advantage, they’d become the first MLS team to win every major piece of North American silverware that’s available.
“We’re all excited, as a collective, to be able to maybe make history,” said Sounders attacker Jesús Ferreira.
“Knowing that this is the only trophy that the club needs to fill the cabinet, we’re all motivated for the final. We all know finals don’t come very often. We did well during the tournament to get to this final, so we just have to finish it.”
Surging Sounders
Seattle went unbeaten in Phase One, emerging as the only MLS or LIGA MX team to take the maximum nine points available. They’ve maintained momentum throughout the knockout phase, eliminating Club Puebla on penalty kicks in the quarterfinals before securing a 2-0 semifinal win at the LA Galaxy.
Now, the Sounders aim to add to their eight previous titles. The list includes four US Open Cups, two MLS Cups, one Concacaf Champions Cup and a Supporters’ Shield.
“I think it’s important to live presently, understand the moment, but also take a deep breath,” said Sounders midfielder Cristian Roldan.
“This is like any other game. You’ve played this game so much and, yes, the pressures are a little different. But at the end of the day, this is a game that we’ve been playing for a very long time.”
Messi factor
If Seattle’s strength is their depth and collective approach, Inter Miami’s is their experience and star power.
That’s most evident with Lionel Messi, who’s looking to lift his world-record 47th trophy for club and country. The Argentine No. 10 is coming off a masterful performance, scoring a late brace that fueled a 3-1 semifinal win over Florida Derby rivals Orlando City – all while returning from a nagging hamstring injury.
Inter Miami, who won Leagues Cup in 2023 upon Messi’s arrival, have a chance to grow their club’s legacy.
“Once you arrive at a team, a project such as this, our expectations are to fight and win the most that we can,” said head coach Javier Mascherano.
“Many times, these expectations can be met. Sometimes, they cannot. But now we’re so close that we’re just one match away from raising the Leagues Cup trophy.”
Dreaming big
Miami midfielder Rodrigo De Paul provided a window into the mentality that defines a final. Alongside Messi, he won four titles with Argentina from 2021-24 and will enter next summer’s FIFA World Cup as a defending champion.
“Every time a match starts, particularly when a cup is at stake, my only thought is ending that match with no regrets,” said De Paul, who joined the Herons last month on loan from Atlético Madrid.
“Many times, soccer is not always fair. Not always does the best one win. But I always have that attitude to keep going in the match and leave with no regrets, no bad aftertaste. Tomorrow, I’m going to play as I usually do with giving my all and trying to get the win.”
The Sounders are similarly buzzing, according to Paul Rothrock.
“We like how we’re playing; our system is working well,” Rothrock said. “You guys have heard it all year: The strength of our collective is really special, and I think everyone can feel a different energy with this team. It’s fun to be around.”
Last one standing
Seattle and Miami, who have qualified for the 2026 Concacaf Champions Cup by reaching the final, have been on a roll all summer.
Since a solid showing at the FIFA Club World Cup, the Sounders have lost just once in their 14 games across all competitions (9W-1L-4D). They’ve received clutch performances from less-heralded players like goalkeeper Andrew Thomas and striker Osaze De Rosario, overcoming an injury wave that would derail most other teams.
The Herons also impressed at the Club World Cup, becoming the first MLS team to beat a European opponent in an official competition and reach the knockout rounds of that global tournament. As clutch as Messi, De Paul & Co. are in big moments, youngsters like Telasco Segovia and Ian Fray have proven crucial to this tournament run.
But only one club can reign over North America, and the massive crowd will surely add to the moment.
“Inter Miami and Seattle Sounders are the teams that deserve to be in the final match,” Mascherano said. “I have no doubt about that.”
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