At this point, there is only one nagging question that needs to be answered before we can definitively declare the Seahawks a Super Bowl contender: Will Sam Darnold learn from his mistakes against the Rams so he avoids that kind of disaster game the rest of the season?

As we said on Twitter/X, if Darnold had just played his “normal” game, throwing even two interceptions, the Hawks would have won.  

Has he learned to do that, even in the face of strong defenses? The proof will come in the final month, when he and the Hawks face the Colts, Rams, Panthers and 49ers to finish the season.

For now, we have to take some solace in the fact that Darnold at least is able to articulate why he threw four interceptions in the 21-19 loss last Sunday.

He admitted the Rams’ secondary fooled him and he veered away from his usual quick-read style of play. As the video showed, he locked onto one side of the field too much – and he often had other receivers open but never moved his eyes to them.

“I just gotta go through my progressions, listen to my feet,” he said, “and not necessarily get stuck on one or two guys and be able to just move on in the progression.”

Meanwhile, to further explain Darnold’s bad performance, Matt Hasselbeck said the Seahawks’ offensive line simply was outmatched.

“Ultimately, I thought the real issue with his interceptions was the pass protection wasn’t good enough,” Seattle’s former franchise quarterback told Brian “Hawkblogger” Nemhauser.

“The Rams were the more physical team (defense vs. Seattle offense), and that is really why (Seattle) lost.”

The Rams were winning with four pass rushers against seven Seattle blockers, Hasselbeck pointed out. “He’s getting drilled as he throws the ball.

“That pass pro needs to get cleaned up. And if that gets cleaned up, he gets cleaned up.”

Hasselbeck does not think Darnold will be shaken by this game. In fact, upon seeing how easily avoidable and fixable the mistakes were, it could build his confidence even more, the retired vet QB said.

He also offered his own coaching point for Darnold: “You’ve got to stay you — but lose the indecision and let our punter punt sometimes. We have a great defense. Let our punter punt. And we’ll get it back again.”