The Seahawks improved to 9-3 on Sunday with a shutout win over the Vikings, setting up an exciting finish to the season with the Rams also sitting at 9-3, and the 49ers just behind those two teams at 9-4. Up next for the Seahawks is another trip east to face the Falcons, but before we turn our attention to that game, it's time once again 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.

@Jaden_the_goat1 asks, "How would we do against the Eagles and Bears?"

A: For starters, let's hope we find out, because the only way the Seahawks are going to face either of those teams is in the playoffs. And while a 9-3 record puts the Seahawks in great position to make the playoffs and compete for the NFC West title, nothing is guaranteed, so if you tell me now the Seahawks are facing one of those teams in the near future, I'll consider that good news.

But to answer your question, I feel like the Seahawks stack up very well against anyone in the NFL. That's not a guarantee that they'll win every game from here out, but the Seahawks, who are third in both points scored and allowed, are undoubtedly one of the league's most complete teams. Even their most recent loss in Los Angeles shows how dangerous the Seahawks can be. Yes, the Rams defense gave Sam Darnold and the offense a lot of trouble, resulting in four interceptions, yet despite that rough outing, the Seahawks still had the ball with a chance to get a game-winning field goal. Unfortunately, the offense couldn't get Jason Myers a little closer than the 61-yard attempt that missed, but if the Seahawks can hang with the Rams, also one of the league's best and most balanced teams, after committing four turnovers, they are good enough to compete with anyone in the league.

The Seahawks currently have the league's best point differential at plus-133, they're the No. 1 team in the league by DVOA, and while there are always ways in which they can grow over the final five games of the season, they are not a team with glaring weaknesses in any of the three phases.

@primetimeequeso asks, "What uniforms do the players like most? The home blues, away whites, rivalries or throwbacks?"

A: Lucky for you, our social media team posed this very question to several players earlier this season. And while there were differing rankings on the navy, white and action green uniforms, the throwbacks were pretty much the unanimous top choice.

And not that you asked me, but I agree with the players here. Throwbacks are the clear No. 1 (no I don't know if there are any plans to ever go back to that look fulltime, sorry), then I think I'd go white jersey with blue pants No. 2, followed by navy jersey over grey pants third. I could be talked into switching No. 2 and 3 on that list, but the fact that the Seahawks won the Super Bowl in white and blue gives that look a slight edge to me.

@tiptims asks, "How nervous are you about the offensive line/offensive struggles after Sunday?" And on a similar note, @segdeha.com on BlueSky asks about the success the Vikings had pressuring Darnold and limiting Jaxon Smith-Njigba, and asks, "Any concern teams will be able to use this as a blueprint against our offense?"

A: The turnovers overall are concerning, and Sam Darnold and company know they need to be better with the ball down the stretch and in the postseason, but overall, I'm a long way away from panicking about Sunday's game. Yes, the Vikings' pass rush made life difficult on the Seahawks offense, but not every team has the players or scheme to try to just copy that plan. The Seahawks do need to come up with answers when teams attack them that way, but I'd have also been curious to see what the offense would have looked like after making some halftime adjustments had the Seahawks needed to throw more. With a big lead, the Seahawks were more run heavy, but even so, there were no sacks and the Seahawks got the aggressive

Minnesota front to jump offsides three times, so it appears they made some improvements in the second half.

"Some of the looks and some of the matches and some of the things they do, which is pretty unique to them compared to the rest of the league, those are things we're going to have to be aware of and have answers for moving forward for sure," Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald said Monday on Seattle Sports 710AM. "But it's also like, some of the things they do, it's hard for a team to just say, 'Hey, we're going to just abandon all the things we've invested in over the last seven months, and we're just going to be the Minnesota Vikings.' That's what makes them such a good defense—that's what they do and they're really good at it. We did some good things against them, you've got to give them a lot of credit, but it's something that, when you don't see it that often, I think we can have a better plan moving forward."

As for Smith-Njigba's quiet day, some of that had to do with the way the Vikings covered him, but the pass rush—and lack of second-half passing attempts—were also a factor. Some of the routes Smith-Njigba has had a lot of success with this season take time to develop, and in the first half in particular, there wasn't a ton of time for Darnold to wait for him to come open.

@RajeshP74187015 and several others asked if there might be competition at right guard moving forward?

A: Mike Macdonald has been asked about this topic a couple of times since Sunday's game. Anthony Bradford won the job out of camp and has started every game, but Macdonald left the door open to the possibility of competition there, particularly when Jalen Sundell returns to injured reserve. Sundell opened the season as the starting center, but he can also play guard and was competing there at camp, so the Seahawks could elect to stick with Olu Oluwatimi at center and let Sundell compete at guard if they feel like that gives them a better starting five.

It is worth considering in this conversation, however, that coaches are evaluating every play in games and practice, and not just the few not-so-great ones that tend to get fans riled up on social media. Has Bradford had some bad plays this year? Of course, but so do just about every linemen in the league, and it's very easy to cherry-pick a few bad plays while ignoring the good ones if your goal is to take shots at a player.

"I think we've just got to keep doubling down on our fundamentals," Macdonald said on Seattle Sports 710AM when asked about Bradford. "AB's doing some good things, he really is. There's some really good plays on there, and there's some not so good plays, and I think some of those plays that show up are kind of like quick losses, maybe, and we can finish those plays better. So let's keep doubling down on the fundamentals. Now we have some guys—Christian (Haynes) came in yesterday and did a good job when AB went out—Jalen Sundell is coming back here in the next couple of weeks, maybe there's some combinations there we can look at, but everyone's always in competition. Now, Charles (Cross), he wins his left tackle job every day, that's what he does. Grey (Zabel) wins the left guard job every day. AB has been winning the right guard job when he's been in there. You can take that through the whole roster, everybody's under scrutiny and in a competition. Shoot, I am. I'm competing to be the head coach every day. So sometimes when we fall short, yeah, there's going to be some competitions that open based on guys' performance. We're always going to be thinking through that lens."

Later in his Monday press conference, Macdonald was asked if Sundell could factor into the competition at guard when he returns, and said, "We have to work through what the lineup will look like when he gets back."

@walkngirl asks, "Of the fourth-year players, which ones are the most likely to get new contracts to stay with Seattle?"

A: The Seahawks already signed right tackle Abraham Lucas to an extension, so he's locked up for several years. The Seahawks exercised their fifth-year option on Charles Cross, Seattle's top pick in the 2022 draft, so he's under contract through next season, though the Seahawks very well could decide to try to get a longer term extension done this offseason.

Other starters/significant contributors in that class who will become free agents in March if they don't get new deals before then are outside linebacker Boye Mafe, running back Kenneth Walker III, safety Coby Bryant and cornerback Riq Woolen. All of those players have done really good things over the past four seasons, and my hunch is that if you asked general manager and president of football operations John Schneider, he'd love to re-sign all of them. The Seahawks have a lot of salary cap space heading into 2026, so getting new deals done for several players is a realistic goal, but if those players do test free agency, there's always a chance that they will get big offers elsewhere. It's too soon to predict who will and won't be back from that group, but given that there's turnover every year in the NFL, there's a real chance they won't all be back.

Another factor when deciding who of that group to pay is also figuring out who in the 2023 class might get extensions next offseason, because that class also contains a lot of starters, including Devon Witherspoon, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Derick Hall, Zach Charbonnet, Bradford and Oluwatimi.

From a big-picture standpoint, the Seahawks find themselves facing some tough decisions this year and in the coming years because, dating back to that 2022 draft, they've added a ton of great players in their past four drafts.

@hitthegaps asks, "Why is the red zone offense so bad?"

A: For the season, the Seahawks have actually been a pretty good red zone team, scoring touchdowns on 61 percent of their trips to the red zone, which ranks 12th in the league, and is up from a 57.1 percent mark last season.

Recently, however, they have struggled at times, scoring touchdowns on just 40 percent of their red zone trips in the last three games. Some of that has to do with the quality of the defenses the Seahawks faced against the Rams and Vikings, but they'll be facing good defenses down the stretch, and in the playoffs if they get there, so they'll need to find ways to improve even against those types of teams.

One factor cited by offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak has been the effectiveness of the running game in the red zone. And Sunday provided a great example of the importance of the run game, with one red-zone trip stalling out after back-to-back runs gained 0 and negative-2 yards, while another ended with Charbonnet scoring on a 17-yard run.