The Seattle Seahawks 2011 schedule has been announced by the NFL, and as the winner of the division, they have been awarded the most difficult schedule of any NFC West team. 

With their 2011 opponents having a combined record of 122-134, Seattle has the 24th most difficult schedule in the league.  Because the rankings for strength of schedule are based on win-loss totals from last year, all NFC West teams have “easy” schedules since no team finished above .500 last season and will play each other twice. The Arizona Cardinals have the easiest schedule.

Having an easy schedule certainly doesn’t guarantee success. Even with one of the easiest schedules in the league last year, the team was only able to manage a 7-9 record.  Conversely, we learned that having a mediocre regular season record doesn’t guarantee failure in the playoffs.

Despite having the worst regular-season record of any playoff team in history, the Seahawks were only one win away from the opportunity to host their second NFC West Championship game.  Overall, it was a tremendous improvement of the four and five-win seasons of the two previous years.

The 2011 Seahawks will look to build upon that momentum, but to do so they are going to have to overcome some adversity in their first six games on the schedule.  Four of the first six contests are on the road, and three of those four are against east coast opponents.  Unfortunately, the Seahawks are notorious for their inability to win on the road.

NFL.com lists the Seahawks 2011 travel mileage at 26,918 miles, the second most in the league behind the 49ers.  It doesn’t take much more than traveling outside of their own time zone to show Seattle’s struggles on the road.  Over the last four years they’ve crossed the Continental Divide 24 times and only won five of those games. Three of the five wins were against the Rams.

As difficult as the first half of the season looks, the season picks up for the Seahawks in the second half.  After their week 11 showdown in St. Louis they travel back to Seattle where they will play three weeks in a row.  They play the Redskins in week 12 before having back-to-back games in primetime. Week 13’s game against the Eagles will be on Thursday night, and Seattle will have a full 10 days before facing the division-rival Rams at home on Monday night in week 14. 

The Seahawks wrap up the final three games of the season by traveling to Chicago, returning to Seattle against the 49ers and closing out the season in Arizona.

Matching up against the NFC East will be a big challenge for Seattle considering they haven’t won in that division since beating the Eagles in 2007 in Philadelphia.  Unless the Seahawks make some major improvements in the offseason, fans may have another year of rooting for a losing team to make the playoffs.  Fortunately the strength of the division may continue to allow for that potential.  

Seattle Seahawks 2011 Schedule (all times Pacific):