RENTON, Wash. -- Pete Carroll said Wednesday that the Seattle Seahawks might have been "a little too protective" of quarterback Russell Wilson during his rookie season.

"I wish I saw the signs a little sooner," the coach said of the 2012 campaign. "I wish I would have responded to what he was showing us and cut him loose a little sooner. The Chicago game is still so vividly in my mind, what he did in that game, to get us back in. It really showed us an elevation of quarterback play. ... Russell kind of took over the game, and I remember saying to Bev [offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell] during the game, 'Cut him loose, don’t hold him back, let’s go.' You could just feel it. I just wish I could have felt it earlier. Then we could have been better earlier."

During that Week 12 game against the Bears, Wilson completed 23 of 37 passes for 293 yards and a pair of touchdowns. He also ran nine times for 71 yards.

The Seahawks started Wilson as a rookie from Week 1, but they brought him along slowly that first year.

The topic of how to properly develop a young quarterback has been a popular one around the league this early season. The Seahawks' Week 2 opponent, the Los Angeles Rams, seem nowhere close to putting Jared Goff on the field. The Philadelphia Eagles decided Carson Wentz was ready, and he had a phenomenal debut.

Coach Pete Carroll said Russell Wilson was more prepared for the NFL's challenges as a rookie in 2012 than the Seahawks staff was to give him an accordingly longer leash. Ric Tapia/Icon SMI

Carroll shared his thoughts on the delicate balance coaches must consider when trying to develop a young signal-caller.

"The quarterback position is so far out there, and there’s so many opportunities to mess it up and to make mistakes, fall back and take all the blame," Carroll said. "All the stuff that can go along with it, it can make it so much harder to focus and just keep making any progress. It’s like any other young guy that we play. We try to help them be successful early so we can start to build the confidence to avoid what could happen, where they get kind of crushed. Maybe they drop the ball or they miss the play that loses the game. Then they have to live with all that stuff. Now you’re just trying to keep going, you know?

"You just try to keep that from happening until they’re mentally stronger and prepared with enough backlogs of some successes to build on so they can withstand whatever the pitfalls are going to be, because they’re going to have them for sure. Russell [Wilson] is a very unique player. He’s a very unusual talent in his makeup and confidence and all that stuff. ... I just wish I would have bought in as much as he was telling me I should, to tell you the truth."

It was Wilson's makeup, self-confidence and athleticism that stood out to Carroll and the coaching staff right away.

"If you guys remember, I was pretty cautious with him early on," Carroll said. "I didn’t want to overdo it. I wanted to make sure we didn’t expose him too much to stuff he wasn’t prepared for."

While every situation is different, Carroll said he believes rookie quarterbacks are generally more prepared to play sooner than they might have been in the past.

"I said that too at the time," Carroll said. "I believed that guys were better prepared. I still believe that’s the case. It’s not just their college years. It’s going back to their high school years and all of the stuff that’s going on with the training. They’re just way farther ahead. They can adapt more quickly, if they have what it takes."