The last time the Seahawks punched their ticket to the Super Bowl, it was with a brash band of brothers who took note of every slight, every doubt. They were 5th-round picks and undrafted free agents who had been passed over but rarely passed on. They were young and smart and terrifying for opponents. This new crew shares the youth and intelligence and brotherhood, but their defining characteristic may be what differentiates them from the iconic Legion of Boom. Michael Strahan posed a question that would have been catnip for the LOB, “Coming into the season, you were an afterthought to the Rams and the 49ers. How does it feel to go through both of those teams to go to the Super Bowl?” Standing on a stage in the middle of a euphoric Lumen Field, head coach Mike Macdonald responded genuinely and defiantly, “We did not care.” The man who resists every attempt to add meaning or narrative to what his team is doing, captured the essence of this group in a phrase so efficient, Hemingway would be jealous. Make no mistake, this team is overflowing with stories worth telling, but their dedication to the game and each other is what sets them apart. Mission over bullshit. One more game to complete the mission.
This was not a revenge story. It was a love story. Sam Darnold has enough bulletin board material to occupy every bulletin board in the country. The grandson of the Marlboro Man could have burned every doubter after a heroic postseason performance, and nobody would have faulted him for it. That is not who he is, and not how this team operates.
Rewind 10 weeks. Darnold walked off a much smaller stage in the bowels of SoFi Stadium after pouring rocket fuel on the negative narratives burning throughout his career with a four interception game. Ernest Jones IV made his way down a long hall to take the stage after Darnold. The two had to squeeze by each other in the narrow corridor, and Jones made a point to make eye contact with his quarterback and say, “I got you.”
Jones climbed behind the podium, and had a message that seemed directed outside the locker room, but was very much for every one of his brothers in it.
“Man, Sam’s been balling,” Jones said. “If we want to try to define Sam by this game, man, Sam’s had us in every fucking game. So for him to sit there and say, ‘Oh, that’s my fault,’ no, it’s not. There were plays that defensively we could have made, there were opportunities where we could have got better stops. It’s football, man. He’s our quarterback, we’ve got his back, and if you’ve got anything to say, quite frankly, fuck you.”
The Seahawks have not lost since Jones delivered those words. There is no way to prove Darnold would have fallen short of the flawless performance he put together to win the NFC Championship if Jones had chose different words or had different feelings. Yet, we have seen numerous teams loaded with talent crumble under the weight of ego and finger pointing. This is not one of those teams.
This team rallied behind their embattled quarterback, and he repaid them by outdueling the MVP.
That cross-team cohesion was born out of a deliberate set of decisions by Macdonald to invest in the connection as much as execution. He saw that the teams that went furthest in the playoffs were the ones who shared a bond beyond the jersey they wore. He took the advice of John Schneider to work with sports performance psychologist, Michael Gervais and his associate Stephen Hauschka. They made every Thursday a day to foster that connection with walk-and-talks that paired players from different parts of the team. They intentionally mixed up the locker assignments so players on offense were intermingled with players on defense and special teams.
Macdonald and Schneider were intentional about who they brought in, and who they let go. Their draft was full of talent and low ego young men with charisma that infused the team with fresh energy. Kids games, like shadow boxing, broke out across the roster and persisted throughout the season.
This team loves one another. Even when one of them makes a foolish and selfish decision, like Tariq Woolen did when he chose face his opponent’s sideline instead of his teammates, they love each other.
There has been doubt about this team, this coach, and players ranging from Darnold to Woolen to Anthony Bradford to Cooper Kupp to Abe Lucas to Drake Thomas and on down the line. That doubt has come from outside national pundits and Seahawks fans. Had they been wired to make this run fueled by doubt, there was a plentiful and renewable supply.
What makes them the favorite to win this franchise’s second Lombardi Trophy, and perhaps more in the future, is the detachment from doubt and hate. They are a team of ultra-talented individuals who are impervious the ups and downs of external perspectives. Others choose the roller coaster. They choose the light rail.
It is not always flashy, but it is dependable and sturdy.
This game required every bit of what they have to offer. The Rams offense was arguably the best unit in football this season. They proved that by beating up on the Seahawks defense twice. Seattle proved they were the better team by beating the Rams twice.
Matthew Stafford was every bit the MVP in this one. He had the determination and precision of The Terminator. Seattle could not shake him or contain him. His decision-making was exquisite. Some of the throws he made were obscene.
Maybe he was aided by Seahawks secondary players falling a few times. More likely, players were falling because they were getting put in bad positions by outstanding opponents.
Devon Witherspoon was having one of his worst games as a pro. He wrote an ending that changed his story. Stops on 3rd and 4th down wound up being enough for his team to punch their ticket to the title game.
The drive that followed was one of the best scoreless drives you will ever witness. It was fitting that the offense would be asked to start from their own 6-yard line in the same endzone that tortured them multiple times this season. There had been strip sack touchdowns and bad snaps and other miserable moments when backed up earlier in the year. Not this time. Not when facing the team that had forced six turnovers against this offense.
Ken Walker III started with a physical 4-yard run to provide some breathing room and start the clock ticking. Most people expected another run on second down. Klint Kubiak had other ideas. Knowing that his most advantageous passing situations were going to be on second down when the Rams were needing to sell out against the run, he dialed up a high percentage pass play to Walker, who turned it into a 15-yard gain.
Back to Walker for 3 yards on the ground made it 2nd and 7 at the 28-yard line with 3:31 to go. Kubiak again eschewed the conservative call and went for a pass. Darnold could not connect with Rashid Shaheed, who clearly was contacted before the ball arrived without a flag being thrown. Clock stopped. Third and long.
Good thing the Seahawks have become good at converting 3rd and long.
Kubiak made a nice call, but the work from Darnold and Kupp was even better. In an absolutely need-it moment, Kupp got just enough to move the chains. If that doesn’t happen, you are punting back to Stafford with over three minutes remaining.
Stuffed for no gain on the next play, Kubiak again went to the air and found Jaxon Smith-Njigba for another high percentage short throw that turned into another first down.
Each one of these decisions are magnified by a thousand in these moments. Every single minute poured into this season by everyone in the VMAC had brought the team to the precipice of a Super Bowl. Many people would crumble under that pressure. This franchise knows better than any how calling a pass when a run is the conventional wisdom can be scarring.
Kubiak’s savvy and courage had brought the team to the Seattle 49-yard line with three minutes remaining. Another run by Walker and then another pass from Kubiak’s playbook. This one fell incomplete, but the refs finally threw a flag on the Rams for holding. First down at the Rams 48-yard line with 2:12 to go.
Walker pushed the pile for 6 big yards on first down to get to the two minute warning. The rest of the drive did not go as well, as the team had to punt, but the damage had been done. The Rams got the ball at their own 7-yard line with 25 seconds to go and no timeouts.
Seattle moved the ball 49 yards and took 4 minutes and 29 seconds off the clock. They changed the field position from their 6-yard line to the Rams 7-yard line. The combination of Witherspoon’s redemption and Kubiak’s daring ultimately ended the Rams season.
They continued to be petulant losers after the final whistle, but it would be a betrayal of who this Seahawks team is to dwell on the ugliness of haters.
As Macdonald said, they do not care. It is ironic. Macdonald and Jones managed to demonstrate what they do care deeply about while emphasizing what they do not. They care about winning. They care about their standards. They care about each other. Bullshit never had a chance against this MOB. The Seahawk are super once again.