A week shy of 2025, Seattle Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith is uninterested in any kind of year in review.
At least not at the moment, with Seattle in dire straits requiring two wins and some help to take the NFC West, its only entryway left into the playoffs.
"None of that really matters right now," Smith said Tuesday when asked how he'd assess his play this season. "Just focused on the next game."
What about the offense overall?
"I think that doesn't matter either," he said. "I think what's important is we get ready for this next opponent. We've got a tough game coming up Thursday night."
In truth, Seattle's past -- beyond film review -- has no bearing on whether or not the Seahawks handle their business in the future.
Should Smith and Co. lose to the Chicago Bears on Thursday night, their third straight defeat, the Rams could clinch the division title with a victory Saturday over the Arizona Cardinals. Even a Seattle win could still end in elimination should Los Angeles achieve the strength of schedule tiebreaker due to a number of other results across the league.
An L.A. loss in the aftermath of a Seattle victory would set up a de facto playoff game between the two in Week 18 with the NFC West falling to the victors.
Given everything at risk, Smith's forward-thinking attitude, focusing only on what he can control, makes sense.
Whatever eventual post-mortem occurs after the season could be plenty painful if Seattle falls short of the playoffs, though.
The Seahawks were sitting at 8-5 and on top of the division just two short weeks ago, but losses against the Packers and the Vikings followed, allowing control over their fate to slip from their hands.
Overall, Seattle's offense hasn't been explosive enough, currently middle of the road at 15th in scoring and 14th in yards. Smith has needed to take to the air without a reliable running game. His 528 passing attempts rank fourth in the NFL, as does his 70.1 completion percentage, but he's thrown just 17 touchdowns and his 15 interceptions trail only Kirk Cousins (16), who the Atlanta Falcons benched on Dec. 17.
Smith was unable to finish the game against Green Bay due to a knee injury, which he admitted Tuesday is not behind him and is "gonna be there for a while." While he performed admirably with the ailment versus Minnesota, throwing for 314 yards and three scores, he also tossed multiple picks, the second of which ended Seattle's comeback bid.
Still, those missteps can become a footnote -- a trial the plucky Seahawks overcame to reach the playoffs -- if Seattle wins the games in front of it and benefits from a little luck.
Making it so begins against the Bears in the league's final Thursday Night Football game of the season.
