The Seattle Seahawks are the first team in ten years to make it back to the Super Bowl after winning the previous year. They now have the chance to be the next back to back Super Bowl Champs. The last team to do so was the 2005 Super Bowl Champion New England Patriots. They were Super Bowl Champs the previous year after beating the Carolina Panthers in 2004. The Seahawks will have a chance to accomplish the rare feat of becoming back to back Super Bowl Champions this year.
Winning the Super Bowl in back to back years doesn’t happen often. In fact, only five NFL franchises can make that claim. The Patriots are the most recent team to accomplish that feat. They won the Super Bowl in 2004 and 2005. Here are the only teams in Super Bowl history to win in back to back years:
New England Patriots 2004, 2005
Denver Broncos 1998, 1999
San Francisco 49ers 1989, 1990
Pittsburgh Steelers 1979, 1980
Pittsburgh Steelers 1975, 1976
Miami Dolphins 1973, 1974
Green Bay Packers 1967, 1968
The NFL has taken great strides towards creating parity among the teams in the game today. Free agency and the salary cap has made it a lot harder for teams to retain players from a Super Bowl winning roster. A lot of players move on to cash in on bigger contracts with other teams. This weakens the roster and puts pressure on teams to not only draft the right players, they have to develop them.
Another thing that makes it a lot harder to repeat as champions is the way that teams in need of a head coach raid the staff of a Super Bowl Champion. Many times, a coordinator will move on to become a head coach or a position coach will move on to become a coordinator. It’s a natural progression. Teams that are in need of a coach are usually losing teams and they want to tap into the winning culture that is in place for Super Bowl winners.
The one equalizer for the more recent back to back Super Bowl Championship teams would be the presence of an elite quarterback. The Broncos and Patriots are the most recent teams to go back to back and they are the only back to back champs that were able to do so in the free agency era. John Elway was the quarterback for the Broncos when they won in ’98 and ’99. Tom Brady was the Patriots quarterback when they won in ’04 and ’05. There is no disputing the fact that these are two of the NFL’s best all time.
The new contender to join the back to back Super Bowl championship fraternity is the Seahawks with Russell Wilson as their quarterback. He doesn’t put up the record setting numbers that Elway or Brady have but he always keeps his team in position to win. The Seahawks would be a more unique back to back winner because of that.
The Seahawks rely on the running of Marshawn Lynch in a ball control style offense. Wilson is fully capable of making plays down the field and in the read option. The other major factor for the Seahawks is their defense. The Seahawks defense can arguably be put into the conversation for best defenses in NFL history. The defense has earned the nickname, “Legion of Boom’ because of how hard their players in the secondary hit and how hard it is to successfully throw the ball against them.
The way that the Seahawks win is a throwback style reminiscent of the Steelers teams of the ’70s. Terry Bradshaw was a solid quarterback for those teams but the key to their success was the defense also known as ‘The Steel Curtain.’ Both of these teams rely on the intimidation factor. Jack Lambert and ‘Mean’ Joe Greene were known as two of the hardest hitters in there era. Similarly, there aren’t many currently in the game that can bring the pain like Cam Chancellor.
Another team that the Seahawks style is similar to would be the Dolphins team that won in ’73 and ’74. Their defense was a no name defense that was referred to as the ‘Killer B’s.’ The other factor for the Dolphins was the running game powered by Larry Csonka and Mercury Morris. Bob Griese was never a quarterback that filled the box score but he was an effective player in the same way that Russell Wilson is now.
It is safe to say that the Seattle Seahawks are a legitimate threat to become the first back to back Super Bowl Champions in ten years. They are a throwback team that wins games the old fashioned way, with a gritty offense and suffocating defense. Many teams have resorted to the new age style of play, throwing the ball over 40 times and trying to win a high scoring shootout. The Seahawks are different. Their style is old school.
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