This time of year teams start to separate themselves from the pack. The playoffs really start to take shape. Some teams finally punch their ticket for the postseason, other teams see their dreams dashed. One or two teams always seem to turn it on this time of the year.

Every year one team starts rolling downhill. One team just forces their way into the playoffs on sheer will. The New York Giants did it last year, Green Bay managed that feat the year before. This year it looks like the Seattle Seahawks may be that team.

This is a team no one should want to face. Coming into their showdown with the San Francisco 49ers they had scored over 100 points in the last two games. 100 points. Yes their opponents for those two games, the Arizona Cardinals and the Buffalo Bills, are not good teams. But 100 points is hard to be ignored. The defense is downright scary, Marshawn Lynch has put ‘beast mode’ into overdrive, and Russell Wilson is sneaky good. The real test would come against the 49ers.

The Seahawks did not just pass this test. They dominated. 42-13. The game was never close. The 49ers came into the game looking like the best team in the league. By the end of the night they didn’t look like they belonged on the field with Seattle.

Come the playoffs, no team may belong on the field with them.