Hard Questions Loom Following Seahawks’ Loss to Niners in Home Opener

By Peter Duncan-Bey, Facts Newspaper Sportswriter

Buckle up. This is going to hurt—but let us stay steady as the vehicle hits the truth. Major questions remain after the Seahawks’ loss to the Niners in yesterday’s season opener at home. You may not like the questions, and you may like the answers even less. Three stand out: Where is the new, improved outside-zone offense we were sold? Who should be the feature running back in Seattle? And when will the Seahawks reclaim a true home-field edge?

First, the offensive identity. All offseason, the message was clear: Klint Kubiak would bring a run-first fix. As far back as February, I reported on this shift in “Klint Kubiak: The Who and the What, Part 1,” noting that his 2021 Minnesota offense rode a Pro Bowl year from Dalvin Cook and that Seattle needed a coordinator who could cultivate a dominant ground attack. It was not just me. Ask around and you will hear the same refrain: Kubiak was marketed as the guy to re-center this team on the run.

We even saw a glimpse of that blueprint in August. Remember the Kansas City preseason game? Seattle rushed for 268 yards—119 in the first quarter alone. Yes, it was preseason, and the staff was evaluating personnel, but the intent was unmistakable. Fast-forward to the opener and that intent did not translate. Seattle used just two of its available backs—Kenneth Walker III and Zach Charbonnet—who combined for twenty-two attempts and sixty-seven yards. Not one George Holoni carry. If this is what the outside-zone, run-first identity looks like when the games count, something is not aligned. With respect to a staff still implementing a system, this team needs to decide whether the run game is the weekly backbone or merely a talking point.

Which leads to the second question: who is the featured back? I am going to ask— Has Zach Charbonnet proven the better fit for what Seattle wants to be and should be the starter. Go back to Week 3 of 2024, when he started for an injured Walker: Charbonnet put up ninety-one yards on eighteen carries in a 24–3 win over the Dolphins. Look at Week 14 last year against Arizona: a career-best 134 yards on twenty-two carries, and two touchdowns, in a 30–18 victory. The evidence has been out for some time—Charbonnet brings the durability and downhill temperament this scheme demands. Even in the opener versus San Francisco, when both he and Walker were used sparingly and Walker got the start, Charbonnet doubled Walker’s yards per carry. The writing is on the wall. Will McDonald and his staff act on it? Coaches see things we do not Monday through Saturday, and that deserves deference. But the tape—and the numbers—are speaking.

Finally, the home-field question. In a crowd where 68,752 tickets were distributed, the stadium was splashed—more than sprinkled—with red Niners jerseys. Once upon a time, opponents feared Seattle’s noise; false starts piled up and games tilted under the weight of The Twelves. Lately, the decibels have dipped because the reasons to roar have, too. If my numbers are correct, The Twelves forced only two false starts in the opener. That is not the standard in Seattle. The surest way to re-ignite the building is to re-establish identity: lean into the outside-zone run game, commit to the hot hand, and impose a physical rhythm that gives fans momentum to amplify.

It is Week 1. No overreactions here—just accountability. If you are truly a run-first team, show it with volume, variety, and commitment. If Charbonnet is the better fit—and the evidence says he is—then feature him. Do those two things, and the crowd will not need prompting. They will feel it. And when they feel it, Seattle’s home field becomes what it once was—a problem opponents cannot solve.