Want to know why the Seahawks are such a dangerous team?
Danny O’Neil at the Seattle Times implies that the Seahawks are playing their best football because they’ve had their backs against the wall the last few weeks:
“‘When it finally came down to that last game against St. Louis, we finally played our best football,’ coach Pete Carroll said. ‘I’m not real proud of that. I would have rather seen that for all the right reasons earlier on, but I’m having fun with it, enjoying it.
“‘We’re going to see how far we can ride it.'”
Julius Peppers would seem to agree (via Sean Jensen at the Chicago Sun-Times):
“’They’re used to being in that spot [in the playoffs],’ Peppers said. ‘They didn’t have a great season recordwise, but they’re used to being in the playoffs.
“’They played like they were.’”
They did indeed. Seattle played what amounted to their second playoff game in a row Sunday. They played fast and hard like they knew what they were in for. They were far from mistake-free and the still need to play better. But they knew that their football lives were at stake.
This is why fans are underestimating the Seahawks so badly. Most understand that they are peaking at the right time and that’s what you want to do. But they don’t account for what’s more important, that the Seahawks are peaking for the right reasons.
The Seahawks are responding under pressure. And sometimes the more pressure there is with this kind of team, the better they respond. And going on the road against a Bears team which is decidedly better than the wounded Saints, the stakes will never be higher. The Bears need to match that intensity or they are going to find themselves sitting and watching TV like the rest of us.