THE CHEAP SEATS with STEVE CAMERON: A title look everywhere but under center

The Seahawks are still aiming for the Super Bowl.

It’s dead in their sights.

This season?

Oh, hell, no.

We’re talking about 2025, or more likely, 2026.

What, you’re in a rush?

Here’s the problem, both this year and in the near future: Geno Smith is not the answer at quarterback, and you can’t win a Lombardi Trophy without an elite QB.

Sure, you can find one or two average quarterbacks who have won it — the most obvious being Baltimore’s Trent Dilfer in 2001.

Maybe you can consider Washington’s Doug Williams, who threw for 340 yards while outshining Denver’s John Elway in the 1988 Super Bowl, but Williams was a solid NFL quarterback.

Still, the fact that we’re scrambling to find TWO average (or below) QBs to win a Super Bowl — a championship game that’s been played since 1967 — tells you all you need to know.

The first four Super Bowls were contested between the winners of the NFL and AFL before the merger was totally complete, and the winning quarterbacks were Bart Starr (twice), Joe Namath and Len Dawson.

That established a pattern that’s rarely been cracked in all the years since.

Basically, you win the Super Bowl with a great QB.

IF YOU think about it just a little bit, of course great quarterbacks are pretty much required to reach the Super Bowl, let alone win it.

It’s moving more and more in that direction, too, with all the added playoff rounds.

You simply cannot wade through two or three brutal postseason games, then survive the Super Bowl itself, without a terrific team — led by a quarterback who will probably wind up as the game’s MVP.

Even if you love Geno Smith (and he’s an easy guy to like), please don’t tell me you can picture him commanding the Seahawks in the Super Bowl.

Geno is already 34, and it’s hard to argue that he’s getting better with age.

This season, he’s thrown 17 touchdown passes (17th among NFL quarterbacks and less than half of Joe Burrow’s 39).

That’s against 15 interceptions, which is second only to Kirk Cousins, who has been benched in Atlanta.

The Seahawks have suffered mightily from those picks, mostly because Geno tends to throw them in the red zone or at critical moments in games.

He had a chance to mount a fourth-quarter drive last week against the Vikings and threw an interception on the first play.

“I hate to put it this way,” said an NFC personnel executive, “but that’s Geno.

“He can really spin the ball, his passes are gorgeous. But he has the interception gene. Somehow, he can find that linebacker at the goal line and blow up everything else he’s done.”

Please understand that I admire Geno Smith.

It’s not easy to take over following a franchise legend when you’ve haven’t been under fire for several years.

He’s doing it with a sub-average offensive line, too, although that group might be getting better.

In fact, you can make the argument that most units on the Seattle roster have improved over the past two or two three years.

Except quarterback.

Here’s the truth: You might go 10-7 or maybe 11-6 in a miracle year with Geno, but that’s the ceiling.

You might squeak into the postseason, but you won’t win when you get there.

IF YOU want to talk about capturing a Super Bowl, you need a quarterback who can deliver at a higher level than Geno Smith.

The Seahawks have another problem with Geno, too.

How do you move him, even if you have your eyes on another quarterback?

GM John Schneider first would have to find the magic QB somewhere — and do it without a high draft choice, because the Seahawks roster is now good enough that this group won’t finish well under .500 anytime soon.

Trade?

Who will trade for Geno at age 34, given his limitations?

Schneider is surely going to try selling him as a “bridge quarterback” to a team that has a rookie needing to learn the game.

But who’s going to take on a $25 million bridge QB?

Kenneth Arthur, perhaps the best reporter covering the Hawks, makes a grim point in his “Seaside Joe” newsletter.

I’ll wrap up this rather unpleasant overview with Arthur’s summary of the league quarterback picture.

“OF THE seven teams with double-digit losses other than the Giants and Raiders, who will have the first two picks in the draft, three have recently-drafted players (Bears, Patriots, Panthers), two are contractually bound to someone (Browns, Jaguars), one is Aaron Rodgers and the other is the Titans.

“If Rodgers returns to the Jets, Cousins goes to the Titans, and the Steelers and Vikings re-sign their vets, there are now potentially no openings left.

“If (Sam) Darnold leaves Minnesota, that’s another job gone because the Vikings drafted a replacement already (J.J. McCarthy).

“Without retirements, I don’t see any other openings. Even if the Saints cut Derek Carr or the Dolphins trade Tua (Tagovailoa), it would not be because they wanted to create a job for Geno Smith.

“It wouldn’t make sense to eat $50 million in salary cap just to take another $15 or $25 million for a player of a similar value.

“That’s like paying Geno $75 million to be your starter.”

Not great news, eh?

Light a candle for 2026.

Email: scameron@cdapress.com

Steve Cameron’s “Cheap Seats” columns appear in The Press four times each week, normally Tuesday through Friday unless, you know, stuff happens.

Steve suggests you take his opinions in the spirit of a Jimmy Buffett song: “Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On.”