Must-watch matchup: Seahawks SS Kam Chancellor vs. Panthers

Seattle Seahawks strong safety Kam Chancellor take the field against the Carolina Panthers on Sunday, October 18, 2015. Seattle Seahawks strong safety Kam Chancellor take the field against the Carolina Panthers on Sunday, October 18, 2015. Photo: JOSHUA TRUJILLO, Seattlepi.com Photo: JOSHUA TRUJILLO, Seattlepi.com Image 1 of / 18 Caption Close Must-watch matchup: Seahawks SS Kam Chancellor vs. Panthers 1 / 18 Back to Gallery

When the Seahawks take on the Carolina Panthers in an NFC divisional-round playoff matchup in Charlotte on Sunday, strong safety Kam Chancellor will be hoping for a repeat performance of Seattle's divisional-round victory over Carolina last season.

That game was Chancellor's coming out party in front of a national audience in a 31-17 win, but there's a chance Sunday's contest could be his last in a Seahawks uniform.

Surprised? Let's back up.

For years, and even after a performance in Super Bowl XLVIII that arguably could have won him MVP honors, Chancellor, 27, played third fiddle in the "Legion of Boom" secondary behind the brash but undeniably talented Richard Sherman, and Earl Thomas, who played the deep middle of Pete Carroll's defense with an almost crazed intensity.

Chancellor -- a dark, brooding presence in the middle of the field -- had a reputation as a first-rate run stopper at safety, but someone who also struggled at times in coverage.

Against the Panthers last year, Chancellor defied that characterization and unleashed his full arsenal of gifts.

The hulking 6-foot-3, 232-pounder tied for the team lead with 11 total tackles (nine solo), while making a handful of eye-popping plays. The first came just before halftime, when Chancellor twice jumped over the line of scrimmage -- and both teams' linemen -- landing in the Panthers' backfield on back-to-back plays in attempts to block a field goal try from Carolina kicker Graham Gano.

"They practiced that all week," Thomas reminisced before practice on Thursday. "You don't really see guys clear it. They always kind of get caught up in the trash at the bottom. But he cleared it twice, so he's a heck of an athlete."

After the teams traded penalties, Chancellor's leaps of faith didn't result in a block, but they certainly displayed the kind of astounding athleticism that few outside of Seattle knew he possessed.

His splashiest play came with five minutes left in the fourth quarter and Carolina threatening to make it a one-score game. Chancellor came up with a game-clinching interception return after he broke in front of a Cam Newton throw intended for tight end Ed Dickson and raced down the field untouched for a 90-yard touchdown that made the score 31-10 with 5:55 remaining.

"He balled," Thomas said of Chancellor's effort. "That great interception at the end -- what was it, like 90 yards? That took the air right out of Carolina."

"It was just a baller game," defensive end Michael Bennett said on Thursday. "And I think when you have baller games and it's on prime time, people pay more attention to it."

Chancellor certainly garnered a lot of praise in the aftermath of that contest and after Super Bowl XLIX, when he played well despite a torn MCL and deep bone bruise on his left knee suffered after falling to the ground in practice two days before the game.

But of course, Chancellor's gutty playoff performances weren't on anybody's mind at the start of the 2015 season. Instead, his decision to hold out from Seahawks training camp in the second year of a four-year, $28 million contract dominated headlines in Seattle for nearly two months until he reported back to the team following their 0-2 start on Sept. 24.

Since his return, Chancellor's 2015 campaign has been a mixed bag.

He secured a win for the Seahawks when he punched the ball away from Detroit Lions wide receiver Calvin Johnson in Seattle's 13-10 Week 4 victory, but he was also victimized in coverage throughout the year, ending 2015 as Pro Football Focus' 36th-ranked safety against the pass.

Coverage breakdowns versus Cincinnati's Tyler Eifert in Week 5 and Carolina's Greg Olsen a week later were particularly egregious, with the two tight ends combining for 15 catches for 221 yards and three touchdowns in losses that dropped Seattle to 2-4. Not all of those numbers can be attributed to Chancellor, but his performances in those contests showed a slight dip from previous seasons.

That wasn't the only thing that changed in 2015.

Before the holdout, Chancellor was an easily approachable member of the Seahawks locker room, but the negative attention that came his way during the standoff seemingly made him reluctant to talk to the media and sometimes unavailable altogether.

Like the rest of the team, Chancellor's performance in the second half of the season was much better than his slow start, but a tailbone injury suffered versus Cleveland in Week 14 knocked him out of action for most of the final month of the season.

Defensive coordinator Kris Richard said Chancellor's injury came just as he was beginning to play like his old self.

"I mean, obviously, he started off really slow," Richard said on Thursday. "But when he got back, he just had to get back into rhythm. Once he got back into rhythm, he was getting back to normal. It was just unfortunate for him to be able to start getting himself back into rhythm, and then have an injury to set him back."

Sunday's win over Minnesota, his first game since the Dec. 13 injury, was a perfect microcosm of his 2015 campaign as a whole.

The good: He forced a fourth-quarter fumble from Vikings running back Adrian Peterson that led to the Seahawks' go-ahead field goal. The bad: Later in the quarter, Chancellor was called for a costly (albeit controversial) pass interference call against Minnesota tight end Kyle Rudolph, which moved the ball into Seattle territory.

A play later, Chancellor attempted to step in front of Rudolph on a pass from quarterback Teddy Bridgewater , much like he had against Carolina in the playoffs a year earlier. This time, however, he was a step too slow, allowing Rudolph to catch the ball and turn upfield for a 24-yard gain.

That set up a nearly automatic 27-yard field goal attempt from Vikings kicker Blair Walsh. Walsh missed the attempt, giving the Seahawks at least a one-week reprieve from elimination.

But if Chancellor and the rest of the Seattle defense can't come up with a plan to stop Olsen on Sunday, one week may be all they have left.

Olsen, whom Carroll called a "magnificent target" this week, led the Panthers with 77 receptions for 1,104 yards and seven touchdowns in 2015 en route to being named a second-team All-Pro by the Associated Press. Stopping him will be a focal point of Seattle's defensive game plan on Sunday.

"He's a big threat," Thomas said. "He always finds a way to get open. They draw up great concepts for him to have one-on-one matchups, and he does a great job of capitalizing."

If Seattle can bottle up Olsen, the Seahawks have a great chance of coming away from Charlotte with an NFC championship game berth for the third straight season. But whenever the season ends, what happens between Chancellor and the team is an open question.

There was absolutely no indication that the Seahawks gave in to any of his contract demands, and frankly, after a year when his performance slipped and injuries continued to take a toll on his body, the team has no real incentive to try and work out a new contract with him, even if they were predisposed to do so.

His cap numbers over the final two years of his contract ($6.1 million in 2016, $8.125 million in 2017 per Spotrac.com) are by no means debilitating for the team. But if Chancellor continues to believe that he's worth more than the Seahawks are willing to give him, another showdown -- or perhaps a permanent separation -- could be coming.

Visit seattlepi.com for more Seattle Seahawks news. Contact sports editor Stephen Cohen at stephencohen@seattlepi.com or @scohenPI.