The Seahawks are NFC West champions and the NFC's top seed thanks to an impressive Week 18 win over the 49ers that gave them a 14-3 regular season record. Next up is a divisional round game at Lumen Field, but first the Seahawks get to enjoy a bye weekend and play an opponent based on how the wild card round plays out. And while we wait to see who the Seahawks are hosting in the divisional round, it's a great time to open up the mailbag and answer some questions from you, the fans.

As always, thanks to everyone who asked questions this week, and apologies if I wasn't able to get to yours this time around. And remember, the mailbag is always open for submissions at Seahawks.com/mailbag.

@MrEd315 asks, "Prior to the season, what kind of results did you think the Seahawks were going to have? Did you have a record in mind at the time?"

A: I don't predict record at the start of the season, but I definitely thought this year's team was going to be a really good one. Now, can I honestly say I was expecting 14 wins? Maybe not. That's just really hard to do in the NFL, especially in a division that includes the Rams and 49ers, but based off the way the Seahawks finished the season, winning six of their final eight with a much-improved defense, it felt like the team had some real momentum going into 2025. Obviously there were some questions about how quickly a new-look offense would come together after Seattle made big changes at offensive coordinator, quarterback and receiver, but once it became apparent in training camp and the preseason that that unit seemed to be hitting its stride, it was easy to see how the Seahawks could emerge as legit contenders, especially given the continuity on defense.

@Gurjittumber25 asks, "What was the atmosphere like on the plane ride back home after Saturday night's win?"

A: I get asked this a lot and more often than not I give a pretty boring answer which is that, A. It's a big plane and I'm pretty far removed from players, and I'm usually wearing headphones and working so I'm not really paying attention, and B. It's usually pretty chill/quiet on the way back. Win or lose, players are tired and usually just looking to get some rest and maybe watch a little film. Saturday night's flight, however, was a bit more lively and loud, at least before takeoff, but not the wild party you might be picturing. As players said after the game, they enjoyed their win and were proud of the accomplishment, but once those locker room cigars were put out, players were looking ahead to making sure they get the job done in the postseason.

@Seateacher.bsky.social asks, "What kind of cigars were they smoking?"

A: I did not make note of this while in the locker room, so I turned to most cigar-knowledgeable person I know, Jacson Bevens, who you might now from his Cigar Thoughts podcast, and before that the Cigar Thoughts column he used to write after Seahawks games. And of course the guy who calls his Seahawks column Cigar Thoughts would be able to identify said cigars via a grainy locker room photo, informing me that they were Montecristo Classic Series cigars. So there you go. Thanks Jacson, oh, and give his podcast a listen, it's a good time.

@curtis93969 asks, "Are throwbacks an option in the playoffs? What are the rules here?"

A: My understanding is that throwbacks are unfortunately not an option. I'd love to proven wrong about this over the next couple of weeks, but when I asked someone about this a while back, I was told that teams cannot wear any of their alternate uniforms for postseason games.

@hollykeefe06 asks, "If you had to pick, what would be a good 2025 Seahawks theme song?"

A: I'm very old and out of touch when it comes to music players half my age are listening to these days, but to my knowledge there hasn't be one song this season that the team always goes back to, kind of like Rick Ross' "Hold Me Back" for the Legion of Boom era teams.

But speaking of nicknames, with this year's dominant defense adopting "The Dark Side" as their nickname, my choice for a theme song would be Pink Floyd's "Time" of, you guessed it, their Dark Side of the Moon album.

Is that song incredibly old, relative to the team? Absolutely, but you can't tell me that intro wouldn't sound cool in a darkened stadium as the defense came onto the field.

@youngnjigba asks, "Who would you like to see them play in the divisional round, as in, most favorable matchup?"

A: See, if I say what I consider most favorable then I'm essentially insulting one team, so I'm not going to do that. There's a part of me that wants to see the Packers win Saturday just so we know a day earlier who the Seahawks will be playing, but I tend to subscribe to the theory that if you want to be the best, you're going to have to beat the best. And this Seahawks team absolutely has what it takes to win it all, so to do that they'll eventually have to go through the best competition, be it in the divisional round, the NFC Championship or the Super Bowl.

@ThatWiiMaster asks, "Since the Seahawks have the week off, which wild card game are you most excited to watch?

A: You ask that as if, as a parent of young children, I'm going to spend my weekend off watching football. Don't get me wrong, sitting around watching playoff football all weekend sounds nice, but I miss enough on the weekends thanks to work, so this weekend will be mostly family time with perhaps some football on in the background at times. Then once we know who the Seahawks are playing, I'll dive into that on Sunday night or Monday.

@Rajesh Patil asks, "Are we expecting George Holani, Elijah Arroyo, Charles Cross and Coby Bryant back for the playoff run? How many guys can come back from IR for the playoffs?"

A: This question came in before Arroyo returned to practice this week, so it looks like he'll be back soon. And while there's no injury report this week, Cross said he practiced Wednesday when he met with the media, and Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald said he's expecting both Cross and Bryant back for the postseason, so it seems likely both are able to play next weekend. That leaves Holani and Chazz Surratt as the two players still on injured reserve with a chance to return. Macdonald hasn't given a timeline on either, but the last time he was asked about them he said they were progressing well and had a chance to make it back. As for the question of how many players can return from injured reserve, teams are allowed up to eight during the regular season, then get two more for the playoffs.

Arroyo is the eighth player designated for return so far this season along with Dareke Young, Eric Saubert, Jalen Sundell, Julian Love, Jarran Reed, Christian Haynes and Robbie Ouzts, meaning the Seahawks do have room to bring back both Holani and Surratt if they are ready during the playoffs.

@SeahawksFan70 asks, "When will Tory Horton be back?"

A: Unfortunately, the Seahawks aren't expecting Horton back for the playoffs. Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald said they aren't completely ruling him out should Seattle go on a run, but most likely his rookie season is over. The good news is that Macdonald said this isn't a long-term concern and Horton should be able to have a normal offseason.

"We got some clarification on Tory," Macdonald said last Friday. "The best way I can describe it is that what he has, it just takes a long time to heal. Put it this way, we're planning on not having him, and if something happens, which we're not counting on, and he's able to come back, then that's great. But right now, we're planning on not having him. He just needs time and rest. It's unfortunate, but these things happen. We're with him, he's doing a great job, we're just not going to have him right now.

"He should be able to have a full offseason. Who knows how things are going to shake out, how long we go and all that, but right now we're not planning on having him. But not a long-term concern."

@Rep1acemat asks, "Do you plan on getting Rashid Shaheed more involved with our passing offense?"

A: Do I plan on it? The Seahawks are in big trouble if I have any say in what happens with the offense on gameday. But do the Seahawks plan on it? Yes and no. They plan on having Shaheed involved in the offense every week, but they're not suddenly going to start forcing it to make that happen. The nature of that position, especially when a player isn't the team's No. 1 receiver, is that the ball will find him more in some games than in others. Shaheed isn't doing anything differently from when he caught nine passes for 141 yards in Weeks 14 and 15, but the way more recent games have played out, the ball just hasn't come his way as often.

"I don't see any drop off from where we were singing his praises before he started that three weeks ago," Macdonald said when asked about Shaheed's dip in production. "I think he's still continuing to improve and the chemistry is still building. He's doing a lot of things that are helping other guys like taking the top off the defense to let an in-cut run behind him. He ran the slant that drew the DPI (defensive pass interference) that got us the first down. It's not like he's not being productive for us.

It's just the ball's not finding him right now, and he's definitely part of our plans. We're drawing stuff up for him every week, that's a big part of our plan, but it just hasn't hit yet."