Seahawks in the Super Bowl, part one: a long road to heartache
The Seahawks aren’t in the Super Bowl, sadly, but they do have their own history in the Big Game. The journey started with a long road to heartache.
While the 12s won’t be watching their team in Super Bowl – not this year, anyway – the Seahawks have plenty of history in the NFL title game. Some of it is sad, some is glorious, and then there’s – well, we’ll get to that. Seattle so far has written three chapters in their Super Bowl story. What better time to take a look back? First up, chapter one.
The Seahawks started their long journey to the Super Bowl in their inaugural season, 1976. It took them 30 years to get there, but the 12s stood by them all the way. The 12th man has a long tradition in Seattle. You should know, as you’re almost certainly one of them. Just in case you’re not clear on the history of the impact Seahawks fans have had, here’s a quick refresher for you. Thank you, Holli Joyce!
Seattle Seahawks
So, 30 years of Seahawks football rolled by before they finally made the Super Bowl. Only 12 of those years were winning seasons. It didn’t take Seattle long to start winning though. Jack Patera led them to a 9-7 record in just their third year. Lee Vowell says he’s the Seahawks fifth best coach. I put him at fourth, ahead of Dennis Erickson. Patera had two winning seasons, Erickson none. I rest my case.
The Seahawks made it to the playoffs in their eighth year, their first under coach Chuck Knox. Lee and I agree that Knox ranks as Seattle’s third best head coach. I can’t imagine many 12s would disagree. Knox took the Hawks to the playoffs in four of his first six seasons. That includes that shellacking division rival Denver Broncos 37-7 and upsetting the number one seed Miami Dolphins 27-20.
There’s no shame in a wild card team falling in the conference championship to the eventual Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Raiders, 30-14. The Raiders beat their other playoff opponents by at least four touchdowns. Different times: the Seahawks were still in the AFC, and the Raiders were still in Los Angeles. But we were speaking of Super Bowls, so…