Seahawks Soaring to Playoffs with Russell Wilson Playing Best Ball of His Career

Not too long ago, more than a few pundits (including this one) were throwing dirt on the Seattle Seahawks. There wasn't going to be any third straight Super Bowl trip. Not with the defense faltering. Not with that offensive line.

Someone apparently forgot to tell the Seahawks, who are in the midst of yet another late-season surge. And the cause of that surge can be explained in three words: Legion of Boom.

And three more: Russell freaking Wilson.

Wilson has been absolutely unstoppable of late, and his recent explosion kept right on exploding in Sunday's 35-6 demolition of the Baltimore Ravens.

They were definitely Russell Wilson's bird.

32 attempts. 23 completions. Five touchdown passes. A passer rating of 139.6.

You name it, Wilson did it against a porous Ravens secondary.

Like the sight of Wilson surveying the field from the pocket? Well, here you go:

As Doug Farrar of Sports Illustrated pointed out (sarcastically), that's supposed to be a weak spot in Wilson's game:

Prefer the long ball? Wilson has you covered—to Lockett again, no less.

There was also a touchdown pass to wide receiver Doug Baldwin. And another. And another:

"

Russell Wilson + Doug Baldwin = TD Russell Wilson + Doug Baldwin = TD Russell Wilson + Doug Baldwin = TD #SEAvsBAL https://t.co/anIL5Ozn2R

— NFL (@NFL) December 13, 2015"

That gives Baldwin a staggering eight touchdowns over the past three games. As CBS Sports tweeted, it's been a while since a pass-catcher accomplished that feat:

Of course, it's been a fair bit longer since a player accomplished what Wilson has over the past month:

In fact, per Curtis Crabtree of Sports Radio 950 KJR, no player in Seahawks history has ever accomplished what Wilson did Sunday:

The numbers that Wilson has posted over the past four weeks have just been staggering:

Not surprisingly, the Seahawks are 4-0 over that stretch, outscoring their opponents 141-56 over that span.

Granted, it hasn't just been Wilson. Seattle's offensive line looks light-years better in December than it did in September. The defense has looked a lot more like the formidable unit we've come to expect in recent years.

But a lot of the credit goes to Wilson, who is playing not only as well as any quarterback in the NFL, but also arguably the best football of his career.

And that's saying something, given the success Wilson has enjoyed to this point:

"

Russell Wilson has tied the record for most wins by a QB through his first 4 seasons (44) pic.twitter.com/d1WPuDrZfh

— Sam HawkBadger (@hwkbgr) December 13, 2015"

As the team's website reported, Baldwin (who has been the main beneficiary of Wilson's white-hot play of late) gave his quarterback due praise after the game:

However, not everything went well for the Seahawks Sunday. As Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweeted, tailback Thomas Rawls broke his ankle against the Ravens and is done for the year:

That's a huge blow, especially with Marshawn Lynch recovering from abdominal surgery. As head coach Pete Carroll told John Boyle of Seahawks.com, there's no real timetable for Lynch's return to action:

"Marshawn is working out with us rehabbing," he said. "He’s in the program here to try to get back… We’re still just kind of waiting. It’s a day-to-day thing that really will be week-to-week. Not this week for sure. We’ll see what happens next week."

Look for that timetable to mysteriously accelerate with Rawls out, but in any event, it would appear that a Seattle team long known for ground and pound is going to be grip and rip for a while.

Good thing they have a quarterback playing out of his mind.

And with Wilson playing the best football of his life, and the Seahawks on a collision course with the NFC's No. 5 seed in the playoffs, three things are becoming apparent:

The two time defending conference champs are the team no wants any part of in the playoffs.

The NFC Least champs are going to be toast on Wild Card weekend.

And maybe it's time we start talking about Russell Wilson as an MVP candidate.

Gary Davenport is an NFL analyst at Bleacher Report and a member of the Fantasy Sports Writers Association and the Pro Football Writers of America. You can follow Gary on Twitter, @IDPSharks.