Now that the Seahawks have proven how far they are from contending, with another double-digit loss to the 49ers, attention for most is turning to the future of this franchise. How do they get where the 49ers are?

Pete Carroll’s team is technically still in the playoff chase, but the odds are against the Hawks making it. They are 6-7 with four straight losses – something Carroll hasn’t been a part of for at least a couple of decades — and probably will go 2-2 in the final four to finish 8-9.

The Hawks are among the league’s many mediocre teams: 13 are 6-7 or 7-6. The 49ers are the clear class of the NFC, if not the NFL, and Seattle has been beaten by that Super Bowl contender by an aggregate score of 59-29 (average of about 30-15) twice over the past three weeks. So we know the gap between the Hawks and Super Bowl contention: two touchdowns.

But no one really knows what the solution for this team is. Many want Carroll gone (whether he is fired or retires). Others want coordinators ousted. Others want better players at key spots. Some people want all of the above.

One thing’s for sure: Something has to change.

The defense is the biggest problem. The players look totally lost. No one knows where to go, whom to cover, which run gaps to fill. All of that showed up in the 28-16 loss to the 49ers, which featured the safeties and linebackers all running themselves out of the play on Christian McCaffrey’s 72-yard run on the first snap of the game and the safeties blowing coverage on Deebo Samuel’s and George Kittle’s long touchdowns.

A very frustrated Carroll called it “bad ball,” ripping his defense for not adhering to the game plan. You know how upset he is because he called out guys by name, which he rarely does.

Jamal Adams blew the Samuel coverage, which Carroll on Seattle Sports 710 called a “total blunder. It was an easy play for us to make – a play we practice all the time.”

“And then we get fooled by Kittle again for another touchdown. … We saw that happen last year and we corrected all of that … and (Riq Woolen) didn’t do it right. He got caught in the play fake. He’s not supposed to be part of the play fake.

“We just gave them some opportunities. It’s really frustrating,” Carroll said. “Those are things we practice. Those are all things we see. But we didn’t execute well. So really disappointed in that.”

Are these players even listening to Carroll? He said he warned them about overpursuit against McCaffrey, and “sure enough four guys go rolling past the football right out of the gate.” Bobby Wagner, Jordyn Brooks, Quandre Diggs and Adams all ran themselves out of the play and left a gaping hole that created a two-play touchdown drive.

Tackling is still terrible. Carroll said guys are trying to strip the ball too much, and he is trying to “wean” them from that habit and get them to simply make the tackle. The message is not getting through.

This kind of stuff has been happening all season, and this game really was the closing argument for why the Hawks should cut overpaid, underperforming Adams and Diggs after this season and separate from Wagner, who is a huge liability in the passing game and played perhaps his worst game of the season against the 49ers. Woolen continued his terrible season; he looks afraid to tackle and is no sure thing to continue to start this season, let alone in 2024.

How can they fix this?

When so many guys are failing so miserably, you have to look at the coaching. The players on this defense seem half-hearted in their efforts and not nearly as focused as they need to be. They simply are not taking coaching.

Carroll clearly is disappointed by that.

“We have to fix some stuff,” he said on the radio show. “We have to fix the process. We have to make sure that we’re doing the right job as coaches to make sure they see the things that they need to see. … It’s not very difficult to change that game. It’s not very difficult. It’s just doing things exactly right, and it’s easy. It’s part of the system. We should have gotten that done.”

That all seems to confirm changes are coming – if not now, then after the season.

What is Carroll’s role in fixing it?

“I have to do a better job in all areas,” he said. “There’s so many things that I might be able to affect. I might be able to affect the coaches’ mind, the players’ mind, the team’s mind.

“You want guys to be perfect. You want them to do things exactly the way we image it and picture it and exactly the way we try to orchestrate it.”

When players fail to do it right in the game, he said, “I gotta go right to the messaging, you gotta go right to the prep, the reps, the speed of the reps. Was it quality enough? Did we do enough to get the point across? Did we capture the guy that needed to be captured because maybe he didn’t quite get the emphasis? It just goes on and on. It’s a never-ending process … and ultimately it’s my responsibility to get that done.”

It seems far too late for this version of the Seahawks to put it together, with just four games left and them basically needing to win every one of them. This defense has not played well against a functional offense all season – their only good games coming in October against the struggling Giants, Bengals and Cardinals.

Offseason moves that must be made

So we’re on to the 2024 version of this defense – still looking to end six years of horrible play on the side of the ball Carroll supposedly knows best.

Assuming Carroll is not retiring, he has to get John Schneider to shake up that side of the ball yet again. And he will need to consider whether Clint Hurtt is the guy to run it.

The Hawks need to get rid of Adams and Diggs, replace Wagner and Brooks, re-sign Leonard Williams and add another pass rusher to go with top outside guys Uchenna Nwosu and Boye Mafe. And let Tre Brown or someone push Woolen for the right corner job in 2024, if not before.

The dependable returning core of this defense at this point is pretty small: Nwosu, Mafe, Dre Jones and Devon Witherspoon. That’s it. Four guys.

Julian Love is the de facto replacement for Adams, and Brown is good enough when healthy to push Woolen, who will get another chance to straighten out and play right in 2024.

Williams should be re-signed (they can afford him). Then the Hawks need a safety to replace Diggs and two thumping inside linebackers (this is why we wanted them to draft one this year), plus a third pass rusher.

Then Carroll and Hurtt have to get these guys to tackle better, stop the run better, cover better and rush the passer better.

Carroll said it himself:  “It’s not very difficult. It’s just doing things exactly right, and it’s easy. It’s part of the system.”