RENTON, Wash. — The Seattle Seahawks want a lot more.

But simply by beating the Carolina Panthers on Saturday, 31-17, the Seahawks did something no other defending Super Bowl champion had done since the 2005 New England Patriots — win a playoff game.

And the Seahawks did it in their usual fashion, wearing out the Panthers as the game wore on and pulling away with 17 unanswered points to start the fourth quarter to advance to the NFC title game this Sunday against the Green Bay Packers.

The game will be a rematch of Seattle’s 36-16 win on Sept. 4 in the Thursday night season kickoff game.

Seattle Saturday also got one of the best performances of Russell Wilson’s career, as the third-year quarterback hit on 15-of-22 passes for 268 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions for a passer rating of 149.2 that was the second best of his career.

All three touchdown passes came on plays of third-and-seven or longer, capping a day in which Wilson was 8-for-8 for 199 yards on third downs.

“That’s impeccable work,” head coach Pete Carroll said. “And three scores? That’s as good as it can get.”

Wilson’s aerial show made up for a somewhat tepid running game against a Carolina defense that seemed driven to stop Marshawn Lynch, who had just 59 yards on 14 carries, 25 coming on one run in the third quarter.

The Seattle defense also struggled some early with a few new twists in Carolina’s offense, specifically some misdirection runs out of the shotgun that threw off a Seahawks team that was concentrating on stopping the running of Panthers quarterback Cam Newton.

“The threat that he poses allows them to do some other stuff,” Carroll said. “They were able to take advantage of the fact that we had loaded up against the running game and throw the ball outside some.”

That contributed to the Seahawks clinging to a 14-10 lead at halftime. But the Seahawks righted themselves in the second half to pull away, aided by one of the best games ever for safety Kam Chancellor, who capped the win with a 90-yard interception return in the waning minutes.

It’s just the fourth time in Seattle’s 39 years they have advanced to the conference title game, but third since the 2005 season. In the previous two, Seattle won at home to advance to the Super Bowl, the goal again this year.

“It’s exciting,” said quarterback Russell Wilson. “The job’s not done, though. There’s still more to do. We’re on one mission — that’s what we keep talking about, one mission.”

–Wide receiver Paul Richardson tore the ACL in his left knee Saturday and is out for the season and his availability for the beginning of next year is in question given the usual nine-month recovery process. Richardson also tore the ACL in his left knee while in college at Colorado, adding to the concern about the injury to the player who was Seattle’s first pick in the 2014 draft at No. 45 overall. Richardson had 29 receptions this season, 13 in the last three regular-season games when he began to make more of an impact after a slow start. He was a starter in the team’s three-receiver sets after the trade of Percy Harvin, and officially had six starts this season.

–Center Max Unger suffered a sprain of the same ankle that held him out the last six games of the regular season late in the game. However, coach Pete Carroll indicated the injury may not be as bad as that one, though there was no immediate word on the possible severity.

REPORT CARD VS. PANTHERS

–PASSING OFFENSE: A — Hard to believe QB Russell Wilson could be much better than he was. Wilson expertly read blitzes on two of Seattle’s touchdowns — a 16-yard pass to Doug Baldwin and a 25-yarder to tight end Luke Willson — to hit receivers in man coverage with passes that were also perfectly thrown. He also had an on-target pass to Jermaine Kearse for a 63-yard touchdown in the first half as the Seahawks took advantage of the fact the Panthers were loading up to stop Seattle’s run. Seattle also pass blocked as well as it has all season, particularly in picking up blitzes.

–RUSHING OFFENSE: C-plus — This may be a little of a harsh grade considering the Panthers appeared to sell out to stop the Seahawks’ running game — and came in with a run defense that finished the season ranked seventh in the NFL. Still, Seattle also was the top-ranked running team in the NFL entering the game and was held to just 100 yards on 28 attempts — 25 coming on one Marshawn Lynch run in the third quarter when he broke four tackles. The Seahawks simply had trouble creating much room for their running backs. That said, Seattle’s threat of the run helped open up the passing game.

–PASS DEFENSE: A-minus — Cam Newton ended up compiling a few yards — 246 — but a lot came on two drives in the fourth quarter as the Panthers tried to play catch-up. Seattle picked off two passes, with Kam Chancellor returning one 90 yards for a touchdown that sewed up the win. Seattle also could have had at least two others that just went off hands. The Seahawks didn’t have a great pass rush early but were able to get to Newton later in the game as Seattle pulled away. The Seahawks did show some vulnerability early in the game to some passes on the perimeter — Newton missed on a few throws and the Panthers had a key drop in the second half. Still, the end result was a comfortable win.

–RUSH DEFENSE: B — Statistically, it was one of the worst days of the season for the Seattle run defense as the Panthers had 132 yards on 30 carries. But the Seahawks got better as the game wore on and they adjusted to some of the new misdirection plays that the Panthers installed for the game to take advantage of what they figured would be Seattle’s emphasis on stopping the running of Newton. Newton didn’t really hurt Seattle with his legs but Jonathan Stewart had some nice runs early to finish with 70 yards. Safety Kam Chancellor and middle linebacker Bobby Wagner were particularly stout against the run once again.

–SPECIAL TEAMS: B-plus — The punting game was big early in keeping Carolina backed up — Jon Ryan had three of his four punts downed inside the 20 and didn’t allow the Panthers a return yard. Kicker Steven Hauschka also had a 37-yard field goal in his only attempt. The kick return games were nondescript for each team.

–COACHING: A-minus — Ultimately, Seattle has advanced to a second straight conference championship game which just about says it all. And once again, Seattle appeared to make the better halftime adjustments than an opponent. Ahead just 14-10 at halftime, the Seahawks scored the first 17 points of the second half to turn the game into the expected rout. Seattle nicely adjusted to Carolina’s misdirection running game to take that away in the second half and also continued to find ways to feast on some of Carolina’s third-down blitzes. Seattle has won seven in a row, all by 10 points or more, yet another year in which a Pete Carroll team is peaking at the end of the season.