SEATTLE _ The question many Seahawks fans asked themselves throughout the 2019 season _ and never more so than during Sunday's 28-23 loss at Green Bay in the divisional round _ is one the Seahawks say they will spend the offseason asking themselves, as well.
Specifically: Why did it seem to take so long for the offense to get going so often?
To be fair, Seattle won 12 games this season, and the offense statistically was just fine _ Seattle scored the ninth-most points in the NFL and gained the eighth-most yards.
But it's also fair to say the offense was usually better late than early, leading to the obvious question of why it couldn't just start the way it finished.
Given the stakes at hand, Sunday's continuation of that season-long trend was the Seahawks' most frustrating as they fell behind 21-3 at halftime before rallying and eventually getting the ball back late with a chance to take the lead.
Seattle got well-acquainted with rallying in 2019 as it had five fourth-quarter or overtime comebacks, tied for most in the NFL, and had the lead or was tied at halftime just six times, including the postseason.
Another illustration of that trend? The Seahawks scored 32 touchdowns after halftime this season, 23 before halftime.
"That's an interesting topic," coach Pete Carroll said Monday. "Why not just start that way? It takes a while to get adapted to the game and see what's going on, and sometimes it just doesn't start that way. We surely would like to find it sooner."
Asked about the propensity for slow starts and fast finishes, quarterback Russell Wilson said Monday: "I think that's a whole season to look at and examine throughout the offseason and figure out what we can do to be better."
Among the factors they will likely consider are what often worked better in the second half of games: Wilson's running, going up-tempo and airing it out more.
Here's a review of what the numbers showed about each this season:
