The Seattle Seahawks will be fighting for their lives yet again in Week 17 on Thursday Night Football against the Chicago Bears. But according to star quarterback Geno Smith, they will be doing so with a quarterback that is far less than 100 percent.
Smith originally injured his knee in the team’s Week 15 loss to the Green Bay Packers. In that game, he did not return following the injury. So there was concern that it could potentially be a season-altering injury.
However, Smith was able to return for the team’s Week 16 game against the Minnesota Vikings.
And while the Seahawks did lose that game, Smith proved that he is at least still capable to playing at a good enough level to compete with top-tier teams despite the injury still lingering.
On Tuesday, Smith was again asked about the injury just two days ahead of their next game against the Bears. And he was bluntly honest about his health, detailing that his knee has not gotten better and that the injury is “going to be there for a while”.
“It’s not,” Smith said, via Brady Henderson of ESPN. “It’s going to be there for a while. But you’ve got to keep pushing.”
This should be a massive area for concern for Seahawks fans. In their Week 15 loss to the Packers, they saw that the Seahawks offense looks nothing like they do with Smith under center when they have Sam Howell under center instead.
With a knee injury, it really only takes one wrong movement for Smith to tweak his current injury and really make it a potential season-ending injury.
While the Seahawks would typically proceed with caution with Smith, there is no room for error if they want to make the postseason this year.
Seattle currently trails the Los Angeles Rams for the lead in the NFC West by one game. If they win in Week 17, they then play the Rams in Week 18 where there is a scenario where they could get in on a tiebreaker even if the Rams win in Week 17 as well based on the strength of victory tiebreaker.
The other, more realistic postseason scenario for the Seahawks would be a win over the Bears and for the Rams to lose in Week 17 against the Cardinals. This would create a win-and-in scenario for the Seahawks in Week 18.
Either way, the Seahawks need to win in Week 17 for any real shot at a postseason birth. So hopefully Smith is at least healthy enough to give them a real shot at making things interesting in Week 18.
