This was an outstanding year for any Seahawks fans who attended road games in person.
The Seattle Seahawks may have had their worst season at home since 2008, but they equaled their best ever performance on the road.
While Sunday’s 30-25 win over the Los Angeles Rams may come with an asterisk that the Rams were sitting several key starters like Matthew Stafford, Cooper Kupp, and Puka Nacua, a win is a win is a win. The Seahawks have been an excellent road team all season and this was a fitting way to end Mike Macdonald’s first year as head coach.
Seahawks finish with NFL’s second-best road record
With the Minnesota Vikings losing to the Detroit Lions on Sunday Night Football, the Seahawks clinched the NFL’s second-best away record behind… the Detroit Lions, who obviously went undefeated on the road. Seattle’s only loss way from Lumen Field was against the No. 1 seed Lions in a 42-29 shootout.
All other teams outside of Detroit and Seattle finished with at least two road losses.
Seahawks finish with seven road wins for only second time in franchise history
You don’t have to go too far back for Seattle’s only other 7-1 road record. The 2019 Seahawks’ only road loss was against the Los Angeles Rams, who won 28-12 but ultimately missed the playoffs.
Of course, that Seahawks team made the postseason and recorded a big-time victory over the then-undefeated San Francisco 49ers in a Monday Night Football overtime thriller.
The reason the Seahawks didn’t win the NFC West that year? Yup. Just 4-4 at home.
A crazy difference in performance
Fully acknowledging the Seahawks had an easier away schedule than home, Seattle was far better in terms of penalties and turnovers on the road, almost mystifyingly so. They only committed six turnovers in eight road games compared to 18 at home. Only two of Geno Smith’s 15 interceptions were on the road, and four of their top five rushing performances were in road games.
The oft-penalized Seahawks suffered the most accepted penalties at home (76) but the second-fewest on the road (44).
Seahawks make (unwanted) history with 7-1 road record
As expected, the other side of the Seahawks being the first team to finish with a winning record despite losing six home games was also having the best road record for a non-playoff team. The previous mark belonged to Washington in 1989, when they went 6-2 away but 4-4 on the road and missed the postseason despite a 10-6 record. That was also the last year of the 10-team playoff before the expansion to 12.
Winning on the road is really hard regardless of quality of opposition. You can’t expect the Seahawks to be this good on the road every season, so any expected regression on that front hopefully will also come with positive regression for Seattle’s home record.