The Packers’ Path to Victory in Seattle: Can They The Odds and Break Their Streak

The Packers barely ever play the Seattle Seahawks, but that hasn’t stopped them from becoming one of the more annoying teams to see on the schedule. The amount of angst they’ve caused me as a fan relative to the number of times I’ve watched them play the Packers is disproportionately high. For that reason, I need the Packers to do the right thing and win this weekend.

That take is not that big of a surprise for anyone with a rooting interest in the Packers, of course, but for me, specifically, I need to see the Packers win in Seattle for my own sanity.

The Seahawks have only been around since 1976, and the Packers are 15-9 against them all-time. But of their nine losses to Seattle, seven have come on the road, including the last four in a row they’ve played on the west coast.

The Packers’ last win in Seattle came in 2008, Aaron Rodgers’ first year as a starter. That year they traveled to Seattle in mid-October and came home with a 27-17 victory thanks to two Rodgers touchdown passes and a suffocating defensive effort that limited Charlie Frye to 83 yards passing for the home team. Charles Woodson alone played a big role in wrecking Seattle’s day, recording two tackles, an interception, and a sack.

But since then, it’s been nothing but misery in Seattle. In 2012, Russeill Wilson threw a game-winning interception to M.D. Jennings. In the 2014 season opener, the Packers let Richard Sherman erase half the field and only threw left. That approach led the Packers to 16 points, but unfortunately the Packers’ defense allowed 36. (Bonus fact: 2011 first-round pick Derrek Sherrod played 42 snaps in that game. I bet you haven’t thought about that name in a while.)

Then, later in the 2014 season, the Packers traveled to Seattle for the NFC Championship game except the game, unfortunately, had to be canceled for reasons that have not been fully explained, and it’s too bad we’ll never know exactly how that season would have ended because the Packers were looking really good that year and surely they couldn’t have two horrible losses in the same stadium in one season.

Then in 2018, the Packers took their all-white alternates on the road and carried a 21-17 lead into the fourth quarter, only to ultimately lose 27-24. Imagine that! Surrendering a lead in the fourth quarter in Seattle! Thankfully, we’ll get a reminder of that game this weekend when the Packers again break out their white alternates. At least the Seahawks will wear something calm and understated to match the vibe.

Anyhow, I’m tired of seeing it. If there was some kind of intervention or incantation I could make or utter that would undo this curse, I’d gladly do it. I need to see a Packers win in Seattle this weekend, if only because there’s a pretty decent chance they’ll be making a return trip there in the playoffs. And apparently, when it comes to winning in Seattle, the Packers can use all the practice they can get.