The sun doesn't shine forever.

I spent my younger years as a Seahawks fan in the 1990's. I sat through 2-14, I sat through the back to back 6-10 seasons, and I sat through the teams of the late 90's who could never fathom being anything other than mediocre. Winning wasn't expected, losing was. I remember always thinking how great it would be to cheer for a perennial playoff team, winning the Super Bowl was secondary. Just to taste the playoffs, taste the respect and prestige of those playoff teams, is all I wanted. Now a decade later the Seahawks are the four time defending champions of the NFC West. They have made five consecutive playoff appearances and haven't been knocked out in the first round since 2004. They have won playoff games, they have won a conference title and they have played in the Super Bowl. I am not satisfied. The ultimate goal of any professional franchise should be to win the championship. Any other result is nothing but a failure to achieve the goal.

  This era of Seahawks football has been a plethora of "almosts".  They, despite being the vastly superior team, almost won the Super Bowl thanks to, officiating aside, dropped passes, missed field goals, poor clock management and a little known backup safety called Etric Pruitt. In 2006 they almost beat the Bears, the window was open, the Bears were on their heels, and they couldn't close the deal. In 2007 they succumbed to the wrath of a snowstorm, Marcus Pollards drops and a running game perfectly crafted for the conditions. In 2004 Bobby Engram dropped a pass in the end zone that would have sent the wild card game against the Rams to overtime. In 2003 against the Packers Randal Godfrey almost tackled Ahman Green on fourth and short, Bobby Engram almost made a catch wide open in the middle of the field and Alex Bannister almost ran the right route. This Seahawks team is similar to the Eagles of earlier in the decade, or the Rams of the late 80's or the Chiefs of the 90's. Close, but not quite.

I'm still waiting for the Seahawks to land that trademark road victory. I'm still waiting for Matt Hasslebeck to turn into a quarterback that can make the big throw on the road in the big game that wins the game. I'm still waiting for the Seahawks to field a defense that can shut down a top flight offense when they need to the most.  This coming Seahawks team is close to the top once again, they are in the top three of the NFC, but are they Super Bowl material?

Like it or not this is the last hurrah, its Holmgren's last year and with his departure an attitude and toughness will shuffle out the door. Jim Mora is not the answer, he's not a Super Bowl coach. This doesn't look like a Super Bowl team, it looks like a conference champion team.  I have enjoyed this run with Holmgren as coach, it has produced many good memories just as Bills fans have fond memories of their Super Bowl teams of the early 90's. Yet the goal hasn't been accomplished, and I am not going to settle for continual playoff knockouts.

Our ride at the top is coming to a close. The horses are aging, Walter Jones is slipping, Mack Strong is gone, Hasslebeck will soon be in his mid 30's. Patrick Kearney can't play forever. This is their last chance. Every Super Bowl team has to confront their demons and conquer them. If the Seahawks are to win the Super Bowl, they are going to have to muster up the character to do what they've never done before.