The Seahawks and their crushing defense are Super Bowl Champions

Defense wins. That’s a cliché. That also is a truism. In baseball (pitching), in European football, soccer (goalie), and certainly in American football. 

As once more we saw Sunday in Superbowl LX, when the irresistible Seattle Seahawks crushed the New England Patriots 29-13. 

The San Francisco 49ers were not involved, but their home—Levi’s Stadium—was, serving as a taunting reminder to Niners fans of what might have been. However, with Seattle’s continued dominance, that opportunity may not be in the immediate future.

The 49ers realized this in early January when they twice played the Seahawks, first as part of the regular schedule and then in the opening round of the playoffs, and they were only able to record a combined three field goals.

If the other team doesn’t score, according to a football saying, you’ll never get worse than a 0-0 tie. The Patriots did not score before halftime, but the Seahawks did. So any idea that this might end scoreless was as weak as the New England offense.

The featured halftime performer was the guy who calls himself Bad Bunny. Bad Bunny, I’m told, was good, unlike the flow and drama of the game. 

This often is the result when one defense is all too dominant. If you weren’t a Seahawks or a Patriots fan, you probably thought the game was boring. Then again, if you understood the nuances and possibilities of NFL competition, you could have been rewarded.

The Seahawks, at times, used four defensive linemen and kept Patriots quarterback Drake Maye off balance. Until New England finally broke through early in the 4th quarter on a 35-yard touchdown pass from Maye to Mack Hollins, there was a real possibility of a Super Bowl team being shut out for the first time.

So much of the pre-game discussion involved Seattle quarterback, Sam Darnold, who had moved from team to team—including the 49ers—after being drafted in the first round in 2018 by the New York Jets. 

The Seahawks defense, in a way, kept the pressure off Darnold. He basically had to prevent making mistakes, something he accomplished very well, not throwing an interception or making a fumble. 

“Our defense was strong,” Darnold said, echoing the words of others. Seahawks coach Mike McDonald said of Darnold, “He just shut a lot of people up tonight.”

More accurately, Seattle’s D shut down the Patriots.

Coaches are very much a part and parcel of any winning franchise. McDonald began as an intern and worked his way to the Seahawks head man last year. He is perceptive, intelligent, and very driven.

In the NFL, it is a long, long way from September to February. Last fall, the Los Angeles Rams appeared to be the strongest team in the NFC. They had the offense with quarterback Matthew Stafford, but in the end, as we know, defense wins.