“Games are going to be like this coming down the stretch. You’ve got to figure out ways to win them, and I’m proud that we did.” – Mike Macdonald, after the Seahawks beat the Colts 18-16 in the final seconds

Even with Old Man Rivers at quarterback, the Colts gave the Seahawks all they could handle Sunday – but the Hawks survived and are still in the driver’s seat for the No. 1 seed in the NFC.

If the Hawks had embarrassingly lost to Philip Rivers (the newly unretired 44-year-old), their rematch against the Rams on Thursday would not have carried the same meaning. But it remains as big as they come — both teams tied atop the NFC at 11-3, with the winner taking the lead for the No. 1 seed. If the Hawks win, their odds of getting the bye and home field in the postseason will jump from 26% to 51%.

They are going to have to come to that game a lot more prepared than they were for the Colts. Shane Steichen outcoached Mike Macdonald in the first half, the defense seemed to be looking past Rivers to the Rams, and the offense continued its recent pattern of slow starts and its seasonlong trend of bad third-down play.

Macdonald told his team afterward: “We’re gonna have games like that coming down the stretch, OK? They can come in all shapes and sizes. All we gotta do is just go to the next play and figure out a way to win.”

The Hawks struggled a lot more than anyone anticipated against Rivers and the Colts. It took some great clock management at the end and a sixth field goal, from 56 yards, from Jason Myers to keep the Hawks in the hunt for the top seed.

“You’ve gotta give the Colts a lot of credit. They had a great game plan, executed it well,” Macdonald said. “Our guys fought tooth and nail to the absolute end. Wins in this league come in all different shapes and sizes. Great teams figure out a way to win games. … The way we closed that game out was just phenomenal.”

The Seahawks came out really flat on both sides and trailed 13-3 in the first half. It seemed like they were thinking they could just show up against Rivers before they got to their big game Thursday against the Rams.

But the defense put the clamps on in the second half, holding the Colts to 65 yards. The problem was the Colts managed to get in position to hit a 60-yard field goal to take a 16-15 lead with 47 seconds left.

The Hawks took all of their timeouts on that defensive drive to give Sam Darnold a chance to win it. Rashid Shaheed came up big, returning the kickoff 28 yards and then gaining 25 more on two passes from Darnold to set up Myers.

Macdonald said of Shaheed, the midseason trade pickup: “He’s really coming alive. I think there’s a chemistry that’s building between him and Sam. That’s just the nature of the business. It’s just takes reps.”

The Seahawks really struggled to run the ball (50 yards, 2.3 average), convert third downs (2 of 13) and score (no TDs). The Colts won the battle of the trenches and the battle of field position. The Hawks started inside the 25 on eight of 11 possessions, and four of those were at the 15 or less.

Darnold played fine, but his teammates did not help him in many cases – dropping balls, missing blocks, lining up offsides, etc. Even Jaxon Smith-Njigba dropped a pass.

Many scratched their heads over the lack of downfield attack, considering the Colts were missing a couple of corners. It seemed like a day primed for JSN to go off. He still caught seven balls for 113 yards, but it was a quiet 100-yard game because none of those yards yielded a touchdown.

The offense has scored just eight touchdowns in the past five games. Three of those came in the second half of the 37-9 win over Atlanta.

Seattle has averaged just 10 points in the first half over the last five games.

“We have to be more effective early so we can get down to our game plan and find some ways to run it,” Macdonald said. “We’ve got to start faster. We’ve gotta block it better, gotta run it better, gotta game plan it better – the whole thing.”

Darnold agreed: “We’ve got to start faster as an offense; we’ve got to finish in the red zone. I feel like it’s becoming a thing now, and we’ve got to get it figured out.”

The Hawks ran for 135 against the Rams in Week 10 and outplayed the Rams in almost every category except turnovers. If Darnold had thrown just two picks instead of four, they probably would have won that game.

Now he gets his chance at redemption. The Hawks already have “turned the page” on the Colts game and are revved up for the rematch with the Rams on the short week.

“We’ve been waiting for this one as a team,” Nick Emmanwori said. “This is what we want right here. As a defense, as a team, as an offense, this is what we want. We’re looking forward to it on Thursday.”