The Seattle Seahawks’ franchise-record winning streak is over, and the ending was ugly enough to leave a mark.
Seattle fell 33-31 to the Washington Commanders on Sunday on the road, suffering its first loss of the 2026 season and snapping a run that had reached 12 straight wins. The difference was simple: the Seahawks handed Washington too many chances, and the Commanders cashed in on every one of them.
Seattle turned the ball over three times, and those mistakes directly fueled 20 of Washington’s 33 points. The worst of them came in the fourth quarter, when Kain Medrano stepped in front of Sam Darnold and took it back for a pick-6 that stretched the Commanders’ late lead.
The Seahawks also had other self-inflicted wounds piling up. They gave up two running first downs on third-and-long in the final two minutes.
They came away empty after getting a first down inside the 5-yard line. And they were flagged eight times for 53 yards, a messy night that made it hard to overcome the turnover battle.
Mike Salk said Seattle simply did not deserve to win.
“The Seahawks did not deserve to win in Washington. It was that simple.”
He pointed to the turnovers, the late defensive lapses, the missed chance near the goal line and the penalties as the kind of mistakes that leave a team in a bad spot no matter who’s on the other sideline. He also noted that the absence of safety Julian Love, who is dealing with a calf injury, was felt in the secondary, especially with Love leading the team in interceptions with three in his last three games, including the Super Bowl.
Salk also flagged the ball-security issue around Jadarian Price, saying the running game’s threat all but vanished once the fumbles started showing up again. He raised questions about whether Seattle’s special teams remains the weapon it was last season, when that unit ranked second in DVOA and was a major edge against the Rams and others.
Mike Lefko called the loss inevitable at some point, but no less annoying because of it.
“It was bound to happen eventually, but that doesn’t make the Seahawks first loss since last November any less frustrating.”
Lefko highlighted the same ugly math: three turnovers, 20 points off those giveaways, and a minus-3 turnover differential that rarely leads to a win. He also said the injuries on defense were a major factor, with the back end especially exposed.
The run game never really arrived, either. Three Seattle running backs combined for 39 yards on 17 carries, and Price’s fumble kept the issue front and center. Lefko said Price appears to have the most raw talent of the group, but after the early turnover, he only touched the ball twice the rest of the way.
For Seattle, the result looks more like a bad night than a full-blown warning sign. But it also exposed a few questions the Seahawks now have to answer as the season moves on.
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