On Sunday, the Seahawks Need to be like the Storm

Championship opportunities are rare. The Seahawks can't waste this moment.

If you are a Seattle sports fan, you know that championship opportunities can be few and far between. I was born after the Seattle Supersonics 1978-79 Championship season, the one and only NBA Championship the Sonics won in 41 years before being relocated stolen by Oklahoma City in 2008. The Seattle Mariners have played 49 years of Major League Baseball, and they are the only franchise that has never even made it to the World Series. The Seattle Seahawks are currently playing their 50th season in franchise history. They’ve won just one Super Bowl (2013-14) and have been to two others (2005-06, 2014-15) in which they lost the title game. Needless to say, championship teams are a rare and unique moment in time for any given city.

Looking outside of Seattle, if you’re a fan of the Dallas Cowboys or San Francisco 49ers, and you were born after January 1996, you’ve never seen your football team win the Super Bowl. If you think that’s bad, it’s been nearly 80 years since the Arizona Cardinals franchise has won a championship (back in 1947 as the Chicago Cardinals). The Cleveland Indians/Guardians have gone 77 years without winning the World Series. The Sacramento Kings last won an NBA Championship in 1951 as the Rochester Royals. The Detroit Lions haven’t won a championship since 1957.

The worst part about these championship droughts is that there are years when your favorite team is good enough to win the whole thing, and for one reason or another, they don’t. Two years ago, the Detroit Lions looked like they were well on their way to the Super Bowl as they led 24-7 over the San Francisco in the NFC Championship game. Multiple mistakes, turnovers, and bad decisions led to a second-half collapse, which resulted in the 49ers winning the game 34-31. Last year, the Lions had the #1 overall seed with a 15-2 regular-season record. They had the first round bye, but shockingly lost to the Washington Commanders 45-31 in the Divisional round. This current season, the Lions didn’t even reach the playoffs despite Super Bowl expectations.

The Seattle Mariners won an MLB record 116 games in 2001. They lost to the New York Yankees in the ALCS 4-1. It took the Mariners 21 years to get back to the playoffs after that disappointing loss. What once looked like a promising team that could compete for championships for several more years never did. They couldn’t even sniff the post-season.

The 1993-94 Seattle SuperSonics sadly made history to become the first number one overall seed to lose to an 8th seed (Denver Nuggets) in the first round of the playoffs. That year, they had the best record in the NBA and a legitimate chance to win the title with Michael Jordan temporarily retired to focus on baseball. Instead, the Houston Rockets claimed the NBA championship that season.

Even the LOB Seahawks, who went to two Super Bowls in a row, never got back to the big game after their heartbreaking loss in SB49. Being a championship team in professional sports is so difficult that, frankly, it feels like a miracle when it actually does happen.

The lesson to be learned is that you can never take these opportunities for granted because there might not ever be a second chance.

One of the things I appreciate the most about the Seattle Storm is that they have capitalized on their best opportunities. The Storm are 4-0 in WNBA Finals appearances. If they have made the championship series, they have won every single time. I remember at one point, Sue Bird joked that every time she had made it out of the first round, she had won a WNBA Championship. For the Storm, that streak technically ended in 2019 when they beat the Minnesota Lynx in the opening round before losing to the LA Sparks in the second round of the playoffs. But Sue Bird did not play that season. Up until the final season of Bird’s legendary career, she had won the championship every time she had advanced past the first round. In 2022, Seattle fell short in the semi-finals against the eventual champions, the Las Vegas Aces. Storm fans are still haunted by that playoff series several years later, but ultimately, whenever Seattle has been good enough to make the WNBA Finals, they’ve walked away with the trophy.

It’s rare to win multiple championships as a franchise. It’s even rarer to be perfect in the championship series.

Sometimes you watch a team and get the feeling that it’s their year. In 2020, going into the Bubble season and knowing which teams were having players opt out, it felt like the Storm should win the championship, and thankfully, they did. In 2013-2014, the Seahawks were dominating opposing teams, and it felt like they should be the ones to win the Super Bowl. They did. But as we know, it doesn’t always work out that way for most teams.

The 2025-26 Seattle Seahawks have played like the best team in the NFL this entire season. They went 14-3 in the regular season, which is a franchise-best record. The Hawks beat the New Orleans Saints 44-13, the Washington Commanders 38-14, the Arizona Cardinals 44-22, the Minnesota Vikings 26-0, the Atlanta Falcons 37-9, and the Carolina Panthers 27-10. In total, eight of their victories were by 10 points or more. They had an NFL-best +191 points in point differential (also a franchise record). Their three losses were by a combined total of nine points. Seattle has won nine games in a row heading into the Super Bowl and 13 of their last 14 games. It feels like the Seahawks should end their season as champions.

The analytics back up the fact that the Seahawks are the best team in the NFL. They have an elite defense, elite special teams, and a very good offense. Put all three of those together, and they are the league’s top team.

Their opponent, the New England Patriots, is also a very good team. Like Seattle, they finished the regular season with a 14-3 record. They’ve actually won three playoff games because they were the #2 seed in the AFC and didn’t get a first-round bye, as the Seahawks did. New England finished with a +170 point differential, the best in the AFC. They also blew out several teams this season. The Patriots have an elite offense (#2 overall) and a very good defense, slightly the opposite of the Seahawks. But in reality, both teams are great on both sides of the ball.

The Patriots had a significantly easier schedule, which might boost some of their stats. But every team can only play whoever is put in front of them. And they will be a challenge for our Seahawks. New England’s double-digit playoff win against the Houston Texans was incredibly impressive, considering the Texans had the best defense in the AFC and were arguably just as good as Seattle’s defense this season.

One of the biggest stories coming into the Super Bowl is about the Seahawks quarterback. Last season didn’t end well for Sam Darnold and his former team, the Minnesota Vikings, despite an incredible regular season where he led them to a 14-3 record. He collapsed under the pressure of the LA Rams in their playoff game. Throughout this entire season, the narrative was that Darnold couldn’t win the big game. The naysayers celebrated when he threw four interceptions against the Los Angeles Rams in Week 11 (the last time the Seahawks lost a game). Darnold didn’t let that deter him. Sam came through huge when he led the game-winning drive in OT against that same Rams team in Week 16 that gave the Hawks the inside edge to the #1 overall seed and the NFC West division title. Then he did it again in Week 18 against the 49ers in San Francisco with everything on the line. And again in Seattle’s impressive 41-6 drubbing of the 49ers in the divisional round of the playoffs. In the NFC Championship against the Rams, Darnold played the best game of his career. He threw for 346 yards and three touchdowns with zero turnovers. He is the reason the Seahawks will play for the Super Bowl title this Sunday. And if he comes through again to help lead the Seahawks to their second Lombardi trophy, it’ll be one of the greatest comeback stories in professional sports.

If I could advise the Seahawks players, I would tell them to be like the Seattle Storm. Don’t take this championship opportunity for granted. For some of their older players, like Jarran Reed, Leonard Williams, and DeMarcus Lawrence, this might be their only opportunity to win the Lombardi trophy. Honestly, that could be said to even Seattle’s rookies, the way sports work. Don’t leave anything up to chance. Capitalize on this moment in time. Become legendary. Become Super Bowl Champions!

Notes:
Thanks for all the great support! Here is hoping we get some positive WNBA news soon!

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