The Seattle Seahawks are Super Bowl-bound once again and will face a familiar foe in the New England Patriots. The AFC Championship was won under a flurry of snowfall as the Patriots squeaked past the Denver Broncos, 10-7.
As for the Seahawks, they walked away from an offensive shootout against the Los Angeles Rams to win the NFC Championship, 31-27. Sam Darnold was the best he's ever been, and the Seahawks are returning to an event that, when they were there last, blew it on one of the more controversial playcalls in Super Bowl history.
The past is the past, however, and this current Seahawks team might actually be better than the Russell Wilson-led squad that tried to repeat 11 years ago. These Seahawks, the Darnold-led Seahawks, are on the brink of another Super Bowl, and it's coming against the franchise that broke their hearts all those years ago.
A look back on the 2015 Super Bowl that saw the Seattle Seahawks' Russell Wilson lose out on a second ring
It's an interesting contrast between Wilson's and Darnold's careers. Wilson experienced great success at the beginning of his career, reaching two Super Bowls in his first three seasons in Seattle, winning the first but losing the second.
For Darnold, it's just now that he's experiencing success after eight years in the league, which began last year when he spent the season with the Minnesota Vikings. Now in Seattle, he's on his way to his first Super Bowl, while Wilson has become more of an afterthought in recent years than anything else.
Wilson, however, did have his moments, though, and they were big moments. Unfortunately, not all of them were good ones. In 2015, the Seahawks were seeking to repeat as NFL champions. Wilson was going up against the already three-time champion Tom Brady. The Seahawks had the game in their hands right up until the fourth quarter — everything changed from that point on.
Seattle was up by 10 points entering the final frame, but Brady would march the Patriots' offense down the field twice, throwing touchdown passes to Julian Edleman and Danny Amendola. The Patriots would take the lead by then, and it was the Seahawks' turn to rally from behind.
Wilson would lead the Seahawks down to New England's 1-yard line, and in a second-and-goal situation, Seattle committed the greatest sin in franchise history — a sin that would hang over the city for years to follow, like a shadow so vast that Wilson's perception would also dramatically change.
Instead of letting Marshawn Lynch run the ball in for a touchdown, Wilson would take the snap and throw it. His throw was picked off by Malcolm Butler, sealing the win for the Patriots and changing the trajectory of that Seahawks team from that point on. It was a crushing defeat, but the play call will always go down as one of the most confusing in NFL history, and it's still talked about today.
That was over a decade ago, now, though, and the Seahawks have a chance to re-do what they should have done successfully in 2015, and coincidentally, do it against the same franchise that broke the hearts of Seahawks fans everywhere.
Wilson is the past. Darnold is the present and likely, the foreseeable future in Seattle, considering what he's done, especially in these playoffs. The Seahawks have a chance to correct a piece of bad franchise history, and, considering they're the better team heading into the Super Bowl, their chances are fairly good.
No one will truly ever forget Wilson's interception, but Darnold can give the Seahawks' faithful something new to remember. It's amazing, isn't it? Of all the NFL quarterbacks in the last 10 years, Darnold is the one we're talking about in this light.