SEATTLE — For most of Sunday, the Seattle Seahawks hardly looked ready to win a game in four days that could put them at the top seed in the NFC.

But that’s where the Seahawks are after they overcame another sluggish start by the offense, held Philip Rivers and the Indianapolis Colts scoreless in the second half to rally from a 10-point deficit and pull out an 18-16 win on a 56-yard field goal by Jason Myers with 18 seconds remaining.

Myers’ kick came just after Blake Gruppe of the Colts hit a 60-yarder with 47 seconds remaining that had the Seahawks on the verge of their most shocking loss of the season.

But Sam Darnold completed two passes to Rashid Shaheed from their 37 to the Colts 38 and set up Myers for his winning kick.

Coby Bryant picked off a pass tipped by Devon Witherspoon on the first play of the Colts’ next series to clinch the win.

Myers scored all of Seattle’s points going 6 for 6 on field goals to set a team record. It was only the fourth time in team history the Seahawks have won a game scoring all of its points on field goals.

They are 11-3 after winning their fourth in a row and eight of its past nine and faces a pivotal game against the Los Angeles Rams at Lumen Field on Thursday night.

After Gruppe hit the 60-yard field goal to put the Colts ahead 16-15, Shaheed returned the kickoff from the 8 to the 37 with 42 seconds remaining.

Darnold hit Shaheed at the 47 and Darnold spiked the ball to stop the clock with 28 seconds remaining.

Darnold hit Shaheed again for an 8-yard gain on an out pattern to the 38 with 25 seconds remaining.

The next play fell incomplete on a pass to Jaxon Smith-Njigba setting up Myers for a 56-yarder

The Seahawks trailed 13-6 at halftime, getting off to a sluggish start on offense for the third consecutive week.

But for the third straight game, the Seahawks got their offense on track in the second half. The Seahawks appeared to throw more to the perimeter on early downs to offset the Colts’ pressure.

The Seahawks gained 125 yards in the third quarter alone as Darnold was 7 of 12 for 96 yards. That included throws of 27 to Shaheed and 29 to Smith-Njigba on a drive that moved to the Indy 17 as the third quarter ended.

Two plays later the Seahawks faced a third-and-7 at the 14. Darnold had time but couldn’t connect with Cooper Kupp in the left corner of the end zone.

That brought on Myers to make his fourth field goal of the game, from 32 yards out, to make it 13-12 with 13:24 left in the game.

The Seahawks started at their own 6 with 8:09 left on a day when they had abysmal field position throughout. Darnold scrambled to pick up a first down to jump start the drive.

The key play came when Darnold evaded a rush and hit Smith-Njigba at about the Seattle 46. He broke a tackle and headed down the sidelines to the 32 for a 29-yard gain.

On second-and-6 at the Colts 11, Darnold threw just behind an open Kupp for an incompletion.

A third down slant pass to Shaheed also went incomplete with the ball a little behind.

But Myers made his fifth field goal, this one from 30 yards out, to put the Seahawks ahead 15-13 with 2:27 left and cap an 11-play, 82-yard drive in 5:42.

That was the first time the Seahawks had the lead all day.

The Colts began their next drive at their own 33 with 2:21 remaining.

A 3-yard gain by Jonathan Taylor took the clock to the two-minute warning.

A heavy rush by Leonard Williams forced Rivers into a harried incompletion on second down.

On third-and-7 Rivers — making his first start in 1,800 days after being lured out of retirement earlier this week to replace the injured Daniel Jones — found Alec Pierce open down the sideline for a 16-yard gain to the Seattle 49.

The Colts faced a third-and-7 at the Seattle 46, with the Seahawks calling their second time out to leave the clock at 1:01.

Rivers appeared to audible into a running by Taylor, who gained four to the 42.

That brought on Gruppe to try a 60-yard field goal with 52 seconds remaining.

He stunned the Seattle crowd by kicking it through with relative ease.

The Colts led 13-6 at halftime, a score that could have been even more daunting for the Seahawks had they not mounted a late drive for a field goal as time ran out in the first half.

Myers hit from 52 yards to give them something to feel good about, the second straight week he hit a field goal to end the first half.

But the Seahawks were statistically dominated through the first 30 minutes, especially by a Colts’ defensive front that seemed to have the home team off-guard throughout with a creative package of blitzes and stunts.

The Seahawks had just three yards rushing on nine carries in the first half and they had just 80 yards total offense on 22 plays.

Rivers looked all of his 44 years on a few tentative plays in the early going.

But he seemed to catch up to the speed of the game as the first half wore on, completing 7 of 8 passes for 50 yards in the second quarter and leading a 10-play, 58-yard that was capped by his seven-yard pass to Josh Downs for a touchdown on a third-and-3 play.

The Colts also leaned heavily on their running game early on with 73 yards on 19 carries in the first half.

That included 58 on 16 carries from Taylor, who entered the game leading the NFL in rushing with 1,356 yards.

Darnold was under pressure much of the half but completed 8 of 12 passes for 84 yards. One of his incompletions was a pass right in the hands of Smith-Nigba on a first down on their first play of the second quarter, which appeared as if it might go for a big gain.

Only, Smith-Njigba dropped the ball — his fourth drop of the season, according to Pro Football Reference.

That play typified a sloppy first half for the Seahawks’ offense.

Their only scoring in the first half was two field goals from Myers, from 47 yards in the first quarter and 52 on the final play of the half.

Rivers completed 18 of 27 passes for 120 yards but didn’t have a turnover.

____

©2025 The Seattle Times. Visit seattletimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.