Seattle Seahawks
Please take a look at my article on the Super Bowl for the Guardian Liberty Voice:
Super Bowl Ending Very Memorable and Controversial:
Some people were suggesting that this loss by the Seahawks was the worst, most painful loss in Super Bowl history, if not perhaps sports history.
I do not know if there is any way to know for sure.
But let's take a closer look.
For a long time, I always thought that the one-point loss by the Buffalo Bills to the New York Giants, with Scott Norwood's barely missed field goal at the end being the difference, was the worst loss that I had seen, at least in a Super Bowl. That changed, however, the next time that the Giants won the Super Bowl.
My vote for most painful and embarrassing Super Bowl loss, and probably sports loss overall, was when the 2007 New England Patriots, the seemingly most dominant team in NFL history, lost in the final minute of the biggest game there was - the Super Bowl. Win that, and you put the perfect crown on your dynasty, the fourth trophy for an unblemished, undefeated season. Accolades as the greatest team ever. and so on.
Instead, a team that really should be remembered for the very long list of accomplishments - the most points scored by any team in NFL history, the greatest average margin of victory in NFL history by any team, what was then a record-breaking season by quarterback Tom Brady with 50 touchdowns, the most touchdown passes caught by any wide receiver with Randy Moss's 23, and the undefeated 18-0 mark they took to the Super Bowl first and foremost, of course - is instead remembered mostly for the lowlights in the final minute of what was otherwise a truly historical season.
I still think that one takes the cake. So much work with every single game. So much pressure building with each week, yet they kept on winning and winning, until that final minute of play in their season. So close to a truly monumental, historical accomplishment that would not soon - if ever -- be repeated. The Seahawks were going for back-to-back titles, but eight teams before Seattle had that chance had already won back-to-back titles, and I'm willing to bet that another team will manage the feat before too long. It is actually not all that uncommon. But, a truly undefeated season? One where the team looked as dominant as those Patriots? Then seeing that opportunity close in an instant?
No, I think that was worse.
But this loss by the Seahawks has to run a close second.
After all, Seattle really was in control. They were on the verge of winning their second straight Super Bowl, a chance that does not come around too often. And they were about to do it, too.
Then, in an instant, a play that went horrendously wrong. A play that would be considered a dumb play and a missed opportunity if it happened early in the first quarter of a regular season game early in the season, but is considered monumentally, even historically, stupid because it as called with less than half a minute left to play in the Super Bowl. Indeed, as bad as New England's loss in Super Bowl XLII was, no one really questioned their play calling too much on that day. Some suggest that they should have gone for a field goal, instead of going for it on fourth down in the third quarter. But Belichick knew what was at stake, and he was taking a gamble precisely because he knew a championship was on the line.
But you get the sense that the Seahawks coaches, particularly Pete Carroll, who could have overruled the call and rejected it as too risky (which it obviously was), lost sight of just how much was at stake. You miss an opportunity like that in the first quarter of an early game in the regular season, and people will certainly question you, and call it a stupid play.But you still have a chance to win, and even if you don't, you still have the rest of the season to focus on. When that kind of debacle happens with seconds left in the Super Bowl, and a championship hanging in the balance, and people will surely be questioning that call for many, many years.
If you watch this video link (see below), you will see a couple of Seahawks players questioning the call as well. They don't understand it, and who can blame them?
However, now that it has happened, we are going to see what the Seahawks are made of. Will they bicker and point fingers? Will they band together and grow stronger as a result of this play? Will some of the players that expressed doubts about the play calling trust their coaches, especially head coach Pete Carroll, again? All fascinating questions.
Unfortunately for Seattle, the Seahawks and their fans now have all off-season to think about it. It will be a long time before we even begin to get any real answers to those dangerous questions for an enormously disappointed Seattle Seahawks franchise.
Here are some more videos that specifically focus on that final interception that went so far towards determining not only the outcome, but of judging the Seahawks, and especially coach Carroll, in a negative light.
Seattle Seahawks react to Super Bowl XLIX loss by NFL Highlights 1:13 mins
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