The Seattle Seahawks' first crack at championship glory came up just short, as they fell to the Pittsburgh Steelers 21-10 in Super Bowl XL back in the 2005 season.
Seattle finished the regular season at 13-3 to earn the top seed in the NFC, and then won both playoff games by multiple schools to advance to the Super Bowl for the first time ever. In contrast, Seattle finished as the sixth seed in the AFC and had to win three playoff games on the road to get to the Super Bowl. Despite those differences, the Steelers were the favorites when the two teams met for the big game at Ford Field.
When the game kicked off, it proved to be a frustrating time for the up-start Seahawks. Between the Steelers jumping out to an early lead and some very questionable calls, the Seahawks left with a bitter taste in their mouths.
Almost two decades later, Super Bowl XL is still being talked about, usually in a negative light. Recently, former Seattle running back Shaun Alexander, who rushed for 1,880 yards and 27 touchdowns that season to win league MVP, claimed that the Seahawks were the better team, they just ran into the Steelers at the wrong time.
"If we had played the Steelers 100 times, we probably would've lost one," Alexander said on KOA Sports Radio's Big Al and JoJo podcast. "And that night, it was the one. We knew they wouldn't be able to play with us if we did three things. Don't turn the ball over, don't have any offensive penalties, and don't let them have any big plays. And if you go in reverse order, 50-yard reverse pass for a touchdown, 80-yard run in the beginning of the third quarter. We knew they wouldn't be able to drive.”
As Alexander said, big plays killed the Seahawks in this game. Steelers running back Willie Parker reeled off a 75-yard run on the second play of the third quarter, then receiver Antwaan Randle El hit Hines Ward for a 43-yard touchdown on a trick play.
The calls also did not go Seattle's way, with the most-infamous one being an offensive pass interference penalty that negated a 16-yard touchdown by receiver Darrell Jackson. As easy as it might be to blame the officials, Alexander isn't using those questionable calls as an excuse for what happened.
"On one hand, you want to be like, 'Aw, come on refs.' But on the other hand, we played through the refs and we still had a shot, and we didn't bring it home," Alexander said. "That was the pain of that game. Here it is 15 years later, you still remember it."
The Seahawks finally bringing home their first ring several years later, a 43-8 trouncing of the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XLVII, takes away the sting a bit. Still, that game against the Steelers only serves as a bitter reminder of what could've been.
More must-reads: