New chapter set to begin in action-packed Seahawks-Packers rivalry

Over the past two decades, the Seattle Seahawks and Green Bay Packers have been the two winningest franchises in the NFC.

Along the way, they have produced plenty of memorable encounters.

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There was the 2003 wild-card playoff game, when Matt Hasselbeck’s infamous “We want the ball, and we’re going to score” line was followed almost immediately by a game-winning pick-six by Green Bay’s Al Harris.

There was the 2012 “Fail Mary” game, when Golden Tate’s hotly debated game-winning catch on the final play gave Seattle a controversial victory on Monday Night Football.

And of course, there was the 2014 NFC championship game, when the Seahawks staged one of the wildest and wackiest comebacks in NFL postseason history to stun the Packers and advance to their second straight Super Bowl.

Seattle and Green Bay renew their rivalry on Sunday night at Lumen Field, where the two proud franchises will square off in a pivotal matchup of playoff hopefuls.

“I’m learning this is a big one – not just because it’s the next game, (but) because it’s the Packers and there’s some rivalry there,” said Seahawks linebacker Ernest Jones IV, who came to Seattle in an Oct. 23 trade with the Tennessee Titans.

Jones will be far from the only newcomer to the Seahawks-Packers rivalry on Sunday night.

In fact, this matchup will bear little resemblance to the teams’ last meeting – a 17-0 shutout win by the Packers at Lambeau Field in Week 10 of 2021.

Mike Macdonald will be pacing the sidelines instead of Pete Carroll. Geno Smith and Jordan Love will be playing quarterback, rather than Russell Wilson and Aaron Rodgers. Franchise icons like Bobby Wagner, Davante Adams and Randall Cobbs are all on different teams.

But it goes far beyond beyond that. Of the 88 total players who appeared in that 2021 matchup, just six remain on Green Bay’s active roster and just five remain on Seattle’s.

That provides an opportunity for a new chapter to unfold in Seahawks-Packers lore.

And like so many games it this rivalry, this one carries high stakes. Seattle (8-5) looks to remain atop the NFC West in front of the hard-charging Los Angeles Rams, while Green Bay (9-4) looks to look to bolster its wild-card playoff positioning.

“It’s a big stage, obviously,” Macdonald said. “But that’s why you do all the things you do your whole life, and this whole year as a team, and all the steps that we’ve taken to earn this opportunity to have this stage with this amount at stake. So you’ve got to love it.”

There’s also a newness to the coaching matchup.

Prior to taking over as Seattle’s head coach this past January, Macdonald spent nine of the previous 10 seasons on the Baltimore Ravens’ coaching staff. But the last time he faced Green Bay head coach Matt LaFleur was in 2018 – back when Macdonald was Baltimore’s linebackers coach and LaFleur was the Tennessee Titans’ offensive coordinator.

“It’s been a minute,” Macdonald said of facing LaFleur. “The last time was 2018 when he was in Tennessee, but completely different operation. … You’ve got to do your homework. You’ve got to go through, hit all the boxes, make sure you’re as thorough as you can be.

“We’ve had coaches on staff who have played the Packers in the past too. Utilizing that feedback and just kind of having all hands on deck to try to generate as much information as you can.”

There’s a possibility these two teams could suddenly become very familiar with each other over the next month.

In the current NFC playoff picture, Seattle is the No. 3 seed and Green Bay is the No. 6 seed. If those seedings hold, the Packers would make a return trip to the Pacific Northwest in January to face the Seahawks in the wild-card round.

But in order to make a home playoff game a reality – whether it’s against the Packers or another opponent – Seattle knows it still has plenty of work left to do.

“We understand what’s at stake,” Smith said. “You want to have meaningful games late in December. You want to have your crowd – these great fans that we have – cheering and having something to be excited for in these meaningful games.

“We’ve just got to take it one day, one game at a time. We can’t put more emphasis on it than it needs to be. It’s a very big game. We know what’s at stake, but it’s just the next game. We’ve got to make sure we approach it the right way and take it step by step.”