Over each of the last three years, the Seahawks have had one stretch in which they have won at least seven out of eight games. It has led to 36 wins, three playoff berths, two Super Bowls and a championship.

They should be on the start of another such run after their 20-3 win over the 49ers on Thursday.

In 2012, they finished with seven wins in the final eight games to go 11-5 and make the playoffs as a wild card. In 2013, they started 11-1 on the way to 13-3 and the first Super Bowl title in franchise history.

Last season, they finally broke through and won in San Fran for the first time under Pete Carroll. That 19-3 win was the second dominant defensive performance in what became a string of such games as Seattle finished with six straight wins and a 12-4 record on the way to another Super Bowl.

They pulled off a very similar win Thursday, beating the 49ers 20-3. And now the schedule really stacks up well for them to put together another big streak.

It has been an odd schedule, with odd results. They just played four games over the last 18 days (one of only three teams to do that this year), blowing big leads in two of those games and needing a miracle play at the end to beat Detroit.

And now they will play just one game in the next 23 days -- a three-week stretch that should see the roster return to 100 percent strength.

After a mini-bye this weekend, they head to Dallas next week and then have their full bye in Week 9. After that, they will play three straight home games, meaning they won't leave Seattle for more than a month.

Carroll is pretty excited about the way it sets up.

"It will be a great week next week," he told 710 ESPN. "These guys will be jacked and ready to go (for Dallas)."

A win at Dallas would take the Seahawks to 4-4 entering the bye, with a Sunday night home game against Arizona coming in Week 10 and home games against San Francisco (poor 49ers) and Pittsburgh (which should get Ben Roethlisberger back soon).

The Arizona and Pittsburgh games will not be gimmes, but the fact that they are in Seattle gives the Seahawks a great chance to put together a five-game winning streak as they head into road games vs. Minnesota and Baltimore to start December.

"If we can be fortunate enough to get the win in Dallas, I'll be really excited about the future," Carroll said. "Because we will be healthy, we will come back strong. We'll have a lot of guys vying for roster spots, play time and all that, which is hugely important for us to keep the competition going."

The Seahawks are getting healthier as midseason approaches, with receiver Paul Richardson expected to come off PUP next week and make his season debut either at Dallas or home vs. Arizona after the bye. Cornerback Jeremy Lane also should come off PUP sometime in the next three weeks, and Carroll is looking forward to getting Jordan Hill back to fortify the pass rush.  

The Seahawks have never rallied from a 3-4 start to make the playoffs. The best they have ever done is 9-7 (three times). But this is a two-time Super Bowl team and, as Bob Condotta points out, this might be a good year for Seattle to have started slowly.

"It's been a hard start. It's been a challenging beginning to this year, of course," Carroll said, lamenting the fact that his team really should be no worse than 5-2 right now. "This game this week being really positioned right makes me really excited about knowing what's going to happen with all these days that come up."

In other words: Watch out. The Seahawks are getting ready to go on another one of those runs.

Image: Philip Robertson (Flickr)