Seattle Seahawks Super Bowl Win: We “Did Not Care” Until We Had To
So. We won the Super Bowl.
Even though we have made a point to go see every stadium, to see games with the Seahawks and the Saints every year, and to stay locked in to the NFL for the foreseeable future, it still feels almost trite to repeat the head coach’s mantra that “we did not care.”
I say we did not care for three reasons.
1) At the Start, a Seahawks Super Bowl Run Felt Unlikely
At the start of the season, it was so incredibly unlikely that either the Saints or the Seahawks would make it to the Super Bowl, let alone even make the playoffs, that we had not remotely factored it in.
For my Seahawks, Mike Macdonald was the youngest head coach in his second year coaching Seattle. We had just brought in a brand new quarterback, Sam Darnold, yes, from a 14-win Vikings team, and a brand new offensive coordinator, Klint Kubiak, formerly with the Saints. Practically speaking, the Seahawks also faced one of the toughest divisions in the NFL with both the 49ers and the Rams as regular season rivals we see every year.
Nothing about that setup looked automatic.
2) It Was Not Part of Our Stadium Tour Process
It was not part of our own process, again to use another Mike Macdonaldism.
Our plan has been to hit every stadium and target away games first, especially AFC stadiums and more out-of-the-way trips. We had already made our planned visits, had a great time in Pittsburgh (chaos to get there, great experiences once there), and had a great time in Buffalo (many sights, many local eateries), so we did not have extra plans for what came next.
When the postseason path opened up, it felt like a surprise branch off our route, not something we had built into it.
3) The Seahawks Season Was Quietly Dominant
There was something about this season where the Seahawks stayed under the radar.
I do not want to say they were disrespected, even though that is what local Seattle media wanted to say. It was more about how they executed. The whole year felt like part of a process, with a workmanlike approach to each game.
It is strange to call a championship season uneventful. They hoisted the Lombardi for the second time in 12 years. But there was very little drama in how they operated.
Before the season started, Seattle made drastic moves that quieted the room by trading DK Metcalf, letting Geno Smith leave, and not re-signing Tyler Lockett. What was unremarkably remarkable was that the Seahawks, the head coach, and the general manager had a plan to put the best product on the field, and the results speak for themselves.
They had a process built on diligence, consistency, and cooperation that got more out of this roster than many organizations get from more obvious talent.
Pittsburgh: The Day It Still Felt Ordinary
Looking back, I never felt postseason success was guaranteed.
We saw Seattle play against the Steelers in hot, windy, bug-filled conditions, listening to “Renegade” and seeing Aaron Rodgers in person for the first time. There was no point in that game where we thought we were about to win that game, let alone every playoff game after it.
It felt like an ordinary game with a few extraordinary plays by both teams, and ultimately the team with more discipline, grit, and preparedness won out.
I later heard that, to prepare for the Steelers, they piped in “Renegade” during practice to mentally prepare for that pressure moment. From our perspective in the stands, what stood out was effort from unexpected places, like Derion Kendrick’s drive-killing interception that turned the tide.
A Game of Inches, and a Team Playing for Each Other
Maybe the old mantra is true: football is a game of inches.
What I love most is team preparedness. Players competing with each other while another team tries to do the same, on a grass field with dramatic intensity.
But there was something about Mike Macdonald’s team that was more than that.
Sure, there was luck. Sure, there was good drafting. Sure, there were key chess moves, including our in-season trade for kick return star Rashid Shaheed from the Saints (to Tommy’s chagrin).
What set this Seahawks season apart was that players were not just playing with each other, they were playing for each other.
The selflessness, the extra effort, and the every-man-to-the-ball mentality defined the defense, even when the offense was still figuring things out. If you look back at the season, every game had at least one major play by an unknown or under-discussed player at that point in time:
- In Pittsburgh, Kendrick’s interception.
- In the NFC Championship, Charbonnet’s two-point conversion.
- In the Thursday night Rams thriller, Shaheed taking one to the house.
When you watch the tape, the collective effort stands out. It is like there is a 12th man on the field, not one superstar carrying everything. That made this team impossible to predict and hard to read, exactly how they play defense: everyone to the ball.
That is just who the Seahawks are now.
So We Won the Super Bowl. Now What?
So we won the Super Bowl.
Now I suppose we have to plan for a third game.