The success that the Seattle Seahawks have achieved over the past four NFL seasons is difficult to overstate. They have made the playoffs each of the past four years. They have won a playoff game each of those four years. They have made two Super Bowls. They won the franchise’s first Super Bowl. These four years also represent the primes of four likely Hall of Fame players (Russell Wilson, Richard Sherman, Earl Thomas, and Marshawn Lynch). They have ranked first in Football Outsiders’ catchall statistical metric DVOA (defense-adjusted value over average) each of the past four seasons.
The National Football League, unlike other American professional sports organizations, abhors continued success. The league, through the draft and the salary cap, is designed to create parity. Even posting back-to-back great seasons is an exceptional accomplishment in the NFL, one that usually requires both a highly touted quarterback and an elite head coach. That the Seahawks have accomplished what they have with a third-round draft pick as quarterback and Pete Carroll, whose potential to excel as a head coach in the NFL was masked by two mediocre previous NFL head coaching stints, is unbelievable.