RENTON, Wash. -- If not for Zach Charbonnet, the Seattle Seahawks might be playing Sunday's NFC Championship Game against the Los Angeles Rams at SoFi Stadium as opposed to hosting it at Lumen Field as the conference's top seed. Or they might not be playing for a trip to Super Bowl LX at all.
Recall how significant of a role the third-year running back played when the Seahawks beat their division rivals in Seattle in Week 16.
Charbonnet opened the scoring with a 4-yard touchdown run and then made an all-time heads-up play on a 2-point attempt in the fourth quarter. As other players were starting to walk off the field, thinking Sam Darnold's screen pass had been batted down for an incompletion, Charbonnet wisely grabbed what turned out to be a live ball in the end zone. The successful try tied the score at 30-30, completing the Seahawks' improbable comeback from a 16-point deficit before they prevailed in overtime.
The win kept them atop the NFC West standings and in control of the conference's top seed.
The play that kept them alive in regulation showed one of the many traits that have made Charbonnet a favorite of coach Mike Macdonald. But the Seahawks will be without those traits for the rest of their postseason now that Charbonnet -- part of their two-headed rushing attack with Kenneth Walker III -- needs season-ending surgery to repair a knee injury he suffered during Seattle's 41-6 win over the San Francisco 49ers in the divisional round Saturday.
You could hear the pain in Macdonald's voice when he delivered the news Monday.
"It breaks your heart," Macdonald told Seattle Sports 710-AM. "... Prayers go out to Charbs. We love him, man. This guy is the epitome of what it means to be a Seahawk. Absolute tough as nails, great teammate, great human being, plays his tail off, detail-oriented, unselfish. This hurts, man. It hurts that it's going on, but he's going to be back. He's going to be back stronger than ever, and the guys are going to pick him up."
Charbonnet's loss is a significant one given his importance in third down and short-yardage situations, but it shouldn't be insurmountable if Walker continues his recent tear.
Walker carried 19 times for 116 yards and three touchdowns against San Francisco, powering Seattle's red-hot run game after Charbonnet went down in the second quarter. Walker finished with 100 yards in the Week 16 win over the Rams and 97 when they beat the 49ers in the regular-season finale, which put him over 1,000 for the season.
"I think Ken has done a heck of a job," Macdonald said. "I think you're seeing the results in the past X amount of weeks now of ... stacking all those reps. I thought this was the most decisive he's ran up to this point, and as expected, you just keep getting better and keep finding ways to improve, especially in the run game. He's done a great job."
Walker has played in all 18 games this season after entering the final year of his rookie contract with durability concerns. It has probably helped that he hasn't carried the ball more than 19 times in any of them while sharing the work with Charbonnet. The rest of the Seahawks' playoff run will either be a test of Walker's ability to handle a greater workload or of the ability of their backup running backs to step into larger roles, whether it's Cam Akers, Velus Jones Jr., George Holani or a combination of the three.
However it happens, the Seahawks will need their run game to take pressure off of Darnold as he continues to play through an oblique injury.
Akers, who won Super Bowl LVI with the Rams, and Jones are on Seattle's practice squad. Holani is eligible to come off injured reserve -- where he has been since hurting his hamstring in Week 12 - though Macdonald did not indicate whether or not that will happen this week.
"That's part of the reason we brought them here, is to provide great running back depth," Macdonald said of Jones and Akers. "Both are really good players in their own right, and they've got a great opportunity in front of them. You hate it to be under these circumstances, but it is what it is. We've got to move forward. So they'll be ready to go."
Another way in which the Seahawks can make up for Charbonnet's absence is with their tush push play, which has become almost unstoppable in short-yardage situations with tight end AJ Barner. Barner has converted 10 of 11 attempts, though only one of those plays has resulted in a touchdown as Seattle has instead relied on Charbonnet at the goal line. Six of Charbonnet's team-high 12 rushing touchdowns came from 1 or 2 yards out.
"That's going to be something we continue to lean on," Macdonald said of the tush push. "These other guys will be good in some of those [goal-line] situations as well."
When the Seahawks opted not to give Walker an extension this past offseason when he became eligible for one, the logical assumption was that they had reservations about his durability after sitting out 10 games in three years. He was then limited during the spring because of an ankle injury before a sore foot sidelined him for a chunk of training camp.
It was a tough start to a contract year after Walker had made changes over the offseason to his eating and sleeping habits with an eye toward improving his durability and performance. But since then, he has barely appeared on the weekly injury reports while playing in all 18 games so far.
How he performs in Charbonnet's absence will help determine his future in Seattle and whether the Seahawks' offense can continue to ride its run game to Super Bowl LX.
"I know he was working through his foot over the course of the offseason. That was frustrating for him because of the amount of work that he was putting in," Macdonald said. "Hopefully he realizes the dividends that's paid, that work he put in to really get himself in a good spot up to this point. I've seen a guy that's gotten better through the season. You can't say that about all runners, so that's a tribute to him and how he's taken I have taken care of his body."
