The Los Angeles Rams have won the NFC West division title, and with it, the Seattle Seahawks have been eliminated from playoff contention.
Honestly, it's impressive that the Seahawks hung around for as long as they did given the lack of overall elite talent on the roster.
In the end, the cream clearly rose to the top in the division.
But now that Seattle can officially began thinking of offseason plans, it must come to grips with a brutal reality: Geno Smith is no longer the answer at quarterback.
Yes, it was a nice story for three years, but the fact of the matter is that Smith has not been good this season, and it may be time for the Seahawks to find a new signal-caller.
Smith has thrown 17 touchdowns and 15 interceptions in 2024, demonstrating that he is not really trending in a positive direction moving forward.
The 34-year-old has one year remaining on his deal, but there exists a world in which Seattle cuts him and moves on to Sam Howell for 2025.
Or maybe the Seahawks try and find a quarterback somewhere in the NFL Draft. Or perhaps they'll try and enter the Sam Darnold sweepstakes.
Whatever Seattle decides to do at quarterback, it has become increasingly obvious that Smith has run his course in the Pacific Northwest.
The Seahawks actually have a pretty good group of receivers in D.K. Metcalf, Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Tyler Lockett, so the fact that Smith has posted such pedestrian numbers this year is mostly inexcusable.
Yes, he has been sacked 48 times, so a lack of protection certainly plays a role, but he is also clearly declining, and he hasn't even come close to his production from back in 2022 when he actually received some MVP votes.
Right now, Seattle is a boring team, and much of that has to do with the fact that it isn't getting exciting play from its quarterback.
Again, Smith served the Seahawks well. He was initially supposed to be a stopgap, but he actually surprised everyone for a rather long duration of time.
But now, the novelty has worn off. It's time for Seattle to accept its fate: it needs to enter a new era, as it isn't going to win anything else with Smith taking snaps.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com/nfl/rams/ as Rams' Bitter Rival Seahawks Must Accept Brutal Reality.