Seattle's rally felt like a throwback game, until Arizona changed the ending and jolted the Seahawks.
You know what that felt like? That felt like 2013, when the Seahawks won games they shouldn’t have won and the stadium was bouncing and the Seahawks just had a little more magic (and talent) than other teams.
That’s what it felt like right up until the moment that kicker Steven Hauschka missed the go-ahead extra point, and right up until the moment the Cardinals drove down the field with one minute left, and right up until the point Arizona kicker Chandler Catanzaro kicked the game-winning 43-yard field goal.
The Seahawks rallied from a 31-18 deficit with 4:15 left. They drove down the field in the final two minutes and quarterback Russell Wilson primed for another comeback added to his legacy.
Wilson hit Paul Richardson for a touchdown with one minute left, and the Seahawks just needed the extra point to take the lead. But Hauschka missed wide left, and then the Cardinals drove down the field against the Seahawks to kick the game-winning field goal.
The bigger-picture issue: The Seahawks no longer control their destiny to get the No. 2 seed. That’s a real issue for a team that has struggled on the road and struggled to string together impressive performances.
This felt like the game that might have jolted the Seahawks forward into the playoffs, the kind of thing we grew so accustomed to the last few seasons. Instead, it was a shocking disappointment.