Is this the end for Marshawn Lynch and the Seattle Seahawks?

Seattle Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch has only played in seven games this season. The last time he’s seen the football field is Nov. 15 before undergoing abdominal surgery Nov. 25. The star running back was away from the team out in San Francisco while rehabbing the abdominal strain.

Then he was a full participant in practice this week and all indications were that he would play in Sunday’s Wildcard game against the Minnesota Vikings. But after the team’s final practice, Lynch notified them that he could not play Sunday. According to NFL Media’s Steve Wyche, Lynch didn’t even travel with the team to Minnesota after being downgraded to out.

Word out of Seattle is that Lynch didn’t suffer any kind of setback with his injury during Friday’s practice. He was actually thought of as the starter and getting the bulk of the carries against the Vikings. One has to wonder what’s really going on after the team was so optimistic that he would indeed play Sunday.

Is this a situation where he’s unwilling to put his body on the line because he knows this is his last year in Seattle?

The Seahawks do have Thomas Rawls, who looked superb when he got his opportunity to start, coming back. Put that together with the fact that in his seven games this season, he averaged 3.76 yards per carry so the Seahawks could be done with Lynch and he’s only looking out for himself for next year.

The Seahawks now have to go forward with running backs Christine Michael and Bryce Brown. We won’t see showdown against NFL leading rusher Adrian Peterson that we were anticipating. All we have to look forward to now is what the Seahawks’ and Lynch’s next move will be this offseason.