Champions of the NFL: the Seahawks defend a Super Bowl title in a loaded division

The Seattle Seahawks sit on top of the football world, having won Super Bowl LX in convincing fashion. Now comes the hard part: defending it. Head coach Mike Macdonald's champions return most of their core, but they face the traditional post-title talent raid and a loaded NFC West determined to knock them off. Repeating won't be easy — but the Seahawks have proven they belong at the summit.

Champions who kept the band together

Seattle's biggest offseason win was continuity. The Seahawks brought back most of the championship core that produced a dominant 14-3 season and a Super Bowl title, preserving the chemistry and identity that carried them to the top. Quarterback Sam Darnold, whose brilliant NFC Championship performance — including a 346-yard, three-touchdown demolition — powered the run, returns as the centerpiece. Keeping a title-winning roster largely intact is a significant advantage heading into a title defense.

The talent raid

Success comes at a cost, and Seattle wasn't spared. Offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak was hired away as the Raiders' new head coach, and running back Kenneth Walker signed with the Chiefs — the kind of departures every champion faces. How the Seahawks replace that coordinator vision and backfield production will be a storyline, but the core of the roster remains formidable.

A tougher division

The challenge is that the NFC West got significantly tougher. The Rams loaded up by trading for Myles Garrett, the 49ers added Mike Evans and got healthy, and even the rebuilding Cardinals added talent. Seattle will have a target on its back in a division featuring three of the conference's better teams, making the road back to the top of the West a grind.

Season outlook

The Seahawks enter 2026 as defending Super Bowl champions with a real chance to contend again, buoyed by continuity and a quarterback playing the best football of his career. The obstacles are real — the coordinator change, the backfield question, and a division arms race — but a team that just won it all, with its core intact and Darnold under center, deserves respect as a contender. Defending a title in the loaded NFC West is a tall order. If any team is built to do it, it's the champs.