Not so fast on Seahawks three-peat had Seattle won Super Bowl XLIX
By Paul Taylor
A Seahawks franchise-altering interception
The play broke the spirit of the team and the Seahawks just couldn't recover mentally, no matter how productive they continued to be the following season. That will happen when you are on the wrong end of the most stunning play in Super Bowl history. And it's no hyperbole to describe the play as such.
There was also already an ever-growing feeling of resentment from a lot of the players – especially on defense – that Carroll and his coaching staff were showing favoritism towards Wilson. Whereas everyone else was held accountable and criticized in front of the rest of the team, the Seahawks quarterback was an exception. This was not helped by certain players believing the pass play in the Super Bowl was called, to make him the hero rather than Marshawn Lynch.
The thing is though, even if the Seahawks had won Super Bowl XLIX, would this have really set them on the road to a three-peat the following season? Certainly, this is an extremely difficult -- nearly impossible -- task to accomplish. The truth is this was a fracturing team regardless, not helped by the perceived (real) favoritism towards Wilson. This would have only gotten worse if he'd thrown the winning touchdown pass, with the aforementioned claim the play call was a way to stop the MVP award going to Lynch.
Additionally in that scenario, the Seahawks coaching staff would have likely seen this as further justification to continue treating/handling Wilson in the same way. How could this not further alienate the rest of the team, particularly a defense that saw themselves and Lynch's physical running as the true encapsulation of the team's identity? Even if Wilson had just thrown an incompletion and Lynch went on to score the winning touchdown, there still would have been little reason for the Seahawks to change the philosophy regarding their quarterback. Why alter your approach, when he's led you to two consecutive Super Bowls and at just 26 still has a long playing career ahead of him?