Seattle Seahawks return to underdog status in 2018

Once on the verge of a dynasty, the Seattle Seahawks are back in familiar territory. The team will once again face the challenge of being an underdog.

One can argue it all began way back in 2010, before the Legion of Boom and Russell Wilson arrived in Seattle. The Seattle Seahawks managed to make the playoffs with a losing record of 7-9. They were as much the underdogs as any team has ever been. They faced the New Orleans Saints in the Wild Card Round. They seemed destined to fall to Drew Brees and the defending Super Bowl champs. Then a miracle happened.

Matt Hasselbeck threw for four touchdowns and Marshawn Lynch erased a season of mediocrity with the most famous run of all time, Beast Quake. The Seahawks won in a shocking upset that put Lynch and first-year head coach, Pete Carroll, on the map. That squad also featured a pair of rookie safeties: Earl Thomas and Kam Chancellor. The team did lose the following week to the Chicago Bears, but the Wild Card victory was the start of an era in Seattle.

In 2012, Wilson joined the Seahawks and became the team’s quarterback. Linebacker Bobby Wagner was also a rookie on the team. A year later, in 2013, the team reached the summit, destroying Peyton Manning‘s historically great Denver Broncos offense in a Super Bowl rout. The Seahawks won the game 43-8.

That all seems like a long time ago now. For the first time since 2011 the Seahawks missed the playoffs this year, finishing with a 9-7 record. The faces of the team have changed a lot. Lynch has moved on, so have 2011 draftee Richard Sherman and 2013 free agent addition Michael Bennett. With a largely deconstructed defense and a struggling offensive line and backfield, the Seahawks are no longer the dynastic level team they once were.

Heck, Seattle Times reporter Bob Condotta reported that Las Vegas bookmakers have the Seahawks favored in just three games this year.

"As football numbers analyst Warren Sharp noted, the Seahawks have been favored in 10 or more games every year since 2013 and were favored in 13 or more every season from 2013-16."

So here we are, the 2018 offseason. The NFC West, and the NFC in general for that matter, is loaded with budding young teams full of future promise and potential. The Seahawks aren’t included in that group. They’re stuck somewhere in the middle between contention and rebuild mode.

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People are once again doubting them and lowering their expectations, but they should be careful. With a wily coach like Carroll and a crafty quarterback like Wilson, you can never be sure what upsets might just be around the corner.