The key is the playoffs.
Right now, this team is playing middle of the pack in every respect.
We are the 20th ranked offense, the 24th ranked passing offense, and the 10th ranked rushing offense (Football Outsiders)
The defense #s are better but not by much, 15th pass ranked, 15th run.
We are 25th in pts in the RZ and 29th in TDs in the RZ (10 down from last year?). Also 31st in TDs per Drive, even though we have played some really bad teams, and in fact some candy cake defenses.
And while we were in the top 5 in least amount of TOs per drive on Offense, we are right in the middle of the pack today.
And defense is getting TOs but still in the middle of the pack in forcing them.
There is a statement by Bill Parcells, you are what your record says you are. At this point, there is nothing exceptional about the Seahawks with the exception that it has a QB that is really good at running for his life and somehow turning disaster into a good gain. However, even that is not consistent so it would be a foolish thing to rely on.
Maybe the emergence of Rawls (who I look to be dead wrong about) fixes some of these but right now - we look like a team could beat the Chiefs but lose to the Jets or the Bengals. But the Packers, Patriots and maybe even Broncos would probably have no problems with us right now.
If this team gets a wildcard, which it should at least, the key will be seeing if it can win that game.
Right now we remind me of the 2010 Steelers team that lost to the Packers and then barely made the playoffs the next year, only to lose in that wildcard round. There were just too many pieces lost and too much transition to make the QB and the offense the threat instead of the defense - they still have not gotten back on the mountain yet.
But the #s right now look very average, although the sample size is small. They are going to have to improve, if Wilson wants to be thought of as elite he needs to perform like an elite guy, and the rest of this team needs to realize that it isn't going to happen unless there are big changes in how they prepare, they play and who produces.