The Seahawks can officially raise another banner as NFC West champs after a 20-9 win over the Rams on Sunday.
And if it was the offense that did the heavy lifting in the first half of the season to put the Seahawks in position, it was the defense that gave the final tugs, proving that the turnaround that began in the first game against Los Angeles was no fluke, holding a once-prolific Rams offense to three lonely field goals.
Seattle is now assured of no worse than the No. 3 seed in the NFC playoffs and a home game in the first round of the playoffs.
But on this day, what mattered most was winning the 11th division title in the team's 45-year history, fifth of the Pete Carroll era and first since 2016.
And the clincher came in the kind of style Carroll may prefer most — stout defense and timely offense.
Seattle's defense bent a few times — the Rams got to the 50 or inside Seattle territory six times.
But the Seahawks defense never broke, most memorably in the game's most critical moment, keeping Los Angeles out of the offense on four plays from the 2-yard line in the third quarter when a touchdown would have tied the game.
And while the offense was far from the prolific unit it was in the first two months of the season, it made the big plays when it mattered most, putting together touchdown drives of 70 and 80 yards in the second half.
Russell Wilson scored one touchdown on a 4-yard run, and then threw the clinching touchdown to Jacob Hollister, a 13-yarder with 2:51 left that made it 20-9.
The Rams then were stopped, with Seattle's third sack of the fourth quarter, and the Seahawks began a celebration in a fanless Lumen Field that, at the least, quieted the critics of those who wondered if Seattle had true championship mettle during a midseason slump when the team lost three of four.
Seattle has now won five of its last six to get to 11-4, with a chance to win a 12th next Sunday against the 49ers.
The teams were tied 6-6 at the end of a defense-filled first half.
Seattle grabbed the lead for the first time when it drove 70 yards on seven plays to start the second half.
The Seahawks converted a third-and-eight and a third-and-nine to key the drive, which ended in a 4-yard run by Wilson with 10:32 to play in the third quarter.
On the first, from the Seattle 32, Wilson pulled up as he scrambled — appearing to have more than enough space to get the first down — to instead pass to David Moore down the right sideline. Moore made a twisting catch good for 45 yards to the Rams 23.
Two plays later, Seattle faced a third-and-nine and Wilson evaded the rush to dump it off to running back Carlos Hyde, who took it to the 4.
Wilson scored on the next play.
On the ensuing drive, the Rams moved it to the Seattle 2 when Darrell Henderson was just barely tripped up by a diving Jamal Adams.
That gave the Rams a first down at Seattle's 2, though Henderson was also hurt on the play.
From there, the Rams ran it four times and got just 1 yard.
Henderson's replacement, Malcolm Brown, got the ball on the first two plays, which lose two yards and then gained three, to the 1.
Goff tried to sneak it on third down but got nowhere.
As the teams lined up for the fourth down play, Carroll decided to throw the challenge flag, wanting officials to see if Goff's fumble was recovered by Seattle.
Officials ruled there was a fumble but could not tell if Seattle recovered.
No matter, Seattle got the stop on the next lay when a run by Malcolm Brown over right side was clogged up by the Seahawks, with Brooks getting credit for the tackle.
Brooks was credited with a solo or an assisted tackle on three of the four plays, with Adams getting credit for a solo tackle on second down.
The Rams held the Seahawks and got the ball back at the Seattle 44 (with the Seahawks unable to recover a fumble on the punt caused by Cody Barton).
The Rams got to the 16. But a first-down sack by rookie Alton Robinson helped force the Rams to settle for another Matt Gay field goal, which cut Seattle's lead to 13-9 with 12:49 remaining.
Seattle appeared to have a first down at its own 48 on its next drive on a Carson 2-yard run. But the play was negated due to an illegal shift on Metcalf — it was ruled he was not set at the snap.
The Rams then got the stop and the ball back at their own 12 with 9:19 remaining.
They reached the 50, but got no closer.
Seattle took over at its own 20 with 7:20 to go. Two passes to Lockett got Seattle into Rams territory. Then, at the 27 on a third-and-seven, Wilson hit Metcalf for eight yards.
Then came the clincher.
Hollister lined up in the slot and beat Rams safety Jordan Fuller off the line to break into the open. Wilson hit him with a perfect pass in the end zone and Seattle had a 20-9 lead with 2:51 left.
Seattle got another stop on the next drive, as well as its third sack of the fourth quarter, and that was that.
The game was tied 6-6 at the half, with each team's kicker making both of his field goal attempts. Jason Myers hit on kicks of 41 and 49 for Seattle to raise his team record streak of consecutive makes to 33.
And while there was plenty of good defense — neither team could really move it on the ground — there were also simply a number of poor throws by each quarterback, though more by Goff.
Wilson was just 10 for 19 for 84 yards in the first half, and failed to connect on two potential big gainers and also saw a potential Rams interception on the first series of the game simply dropped.
Wilson flat out overthrew a wide open Jacob Hollister down the sideline early in the second quarter for what might have been a touchdown.
Later, Metcalf broke open down the other sideline, but Wilson's throw went to the outside when Metcalf appeared to be looking inside. Wilson was hit as he threw, which may have influenced things.
Still, it typified a half of missed opportunities.
His counterpart, Goff, was worse, going 15 of 16 for 125 yards and throwing a mind-boggling interception to Seattle safety Quandre Diggs on a first-down play from the Seattle 29 in the second quarter.
The Rams led 3-0 at the end of a first quarter that seemed tentative for both teams.
Seattle got lucky on the first series of the game when on third down, Darious Williams jumped in front of a Wilson pass but flat out dropped a potential interception, that might have gone for a long return — if not a touchdown — had he held on.
The Rams used a 62-yard, 14-play drive to get a 44-yard field goal by Gay.
But that drive was indicative of how Seattle gave up yards grudgingly.
Seattle held the Rams to 53 yards rushing on 15 carries, which put the ball in the hands of Goff to make plays.
He usually couldn't.
