Entering Week 9, the Seattle Seahawks dropped out of the top ten on many power rankings after losing to the Chicago Bears. Will their Week 9 victory over the Arizona Cardinals help raise them back up the rankings? Let’s take a look at five national media sites (NFL.com, CBS Sports, Bleacher Report (BR), Pro Football Talk (PFT), and ESPN) to see where they rank Seattle.
These rankings this week may frustrate some Seahawks fans. Despite the victory over the Cardinals, many national media sites did not
move Seattle up. In fact, some even moved the team down their rankings. That being said, let’s start with the one site who did give the Seahawks a positive bump. B/R, who ranked Seattle 13 last week, moved the team up one spot to 12. In their ranking, B/R expressed some doubts around Seattle’s offense, particularly at the quarterback position that has seen a plethora of injuries in 2026. Because of this, B/R states that “it’s hard to feel confident about the Seahawks’ short-term outlook.”
Two national media sites did not move Seattle from their rankings from last week. CBS, who was the lowest on Seattle last week, keeps the team ranked 14th best in the league this week. In this ranking, CBS also brings up the injuries at quarterback, however provides a sliver of hope, stating that “[t]he Raiders might be the perfect tonic to get the offense going.” PFT also kept the Seahawks at the same ranking as last week, that being ninth best in the NFL. PFT also interestingly states that “Drew Lock fits this team better than Sam Darnold does.”
The last two national media sites to discuss this week both moved the Seahawks down in their rankings despite the victory. NFL.com is the most punitive, moving the team down two spots, from 7 to 9. In their reasoning, NFL.com notes that the quarterback situation “might become more concerning in the days ahead” due to the recent injuries to Drew Lock and Sam Darnold. However, NFL.com also brings up a non-quarterback talking point as well, shining light on the new running back duo that Seattle has now in Zach Charbonnet and Jadarian Price.
ESPN also moved the Seahawks down, albeit only one spot, from eighth to ninth best in the league. In their rankings this week, ESPN noted each teams’ most important game of the second half. For Seattle that was the San Francisco 49ers in week 12. The hope is that the team can get healthy by that week with six starters currently out due to injury.
Overall the national landscape remains skeptical over the Seahawks. Not only has the offense been struggling throughout the season, but the team is now flushed with injuries. Currently out of the playoff picture if the season ended today, it makes sense to see Seattle ranked right in the 9-14 range. Entering Week 9, the average power rankings between the five polled sites was 10.2. Entering week 10, that average has continued to fall to 10.6. This next week against the Las Vegas Raiders appears to me a must win for the Seahawks as they enter the bye week and hopefully get healthy for the final stretch of the season.
