What If Marshawn Lynch Had Carried the Ball in 2015 Super Bowl?

With the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots preparing to play in Super Bowl LX on February 8, it’s impossible not to recall the infamous play call the last time these two teams met in the Super Bowl 11 years ago.

More significantly, it’s impossible not imagine how that call by Seahawks offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell might have changed the legacy of former Cal star Marshawn Lynch.

If Lynch had run 1 yard for a touchdown on February 1, 2015, would he be named to the Pro Football Hall of Fame class of 2026 on February 5, 2026? The announcement of players voted into the Hall will be made in the Bay Area (San Francisco specifically), and Lynch, an Oakland native, still owns the Bay Area to a large degree, as evidence by his appearance as a guest picker on ESPN GameDay on the morning of October 5, 2024, perhaps the best GameDay event in history.

Lynch’s name won’t be announced. He made the list of this year’s 52 semifinalists for the Hall, but in December it was revealed he was not among the 26 finalists. And you wonder whether he will ever make it.

It’s funny. He had 490 carries at Cal, amassing 3,230 yards in three season, just 137 yards shy of the Cal career record set by Russell White in four seasons. Lynch then had 2,453 carries in a 12-year NFL career.

That’s nearly 3,000 times carrying the football, and the play for which he is most remembered is one in which he didn’t carry the ball.

It was 11 years ago, and Seattle was on the verge of winning the Super Bowl for the second straight season. Lynch had already caught a 31-yard pass to start the drive, and had run 4 yards on a first-and-goal play from the 5-yard line to set up second-and-goal from the 1 with 26 second left and Seattle trailing by four points.

Bevell called for a Russell Wilson pass intended for Ricardo Lockette (who had 11 receptions during the entire regular season), and the pass was intercepted by the Patriots’ Malcolm Butler at the goal-line. And as the replay showed the play that saved the New England victory with 20 seconds remaining, TV analyst Cris Collinsworth provided the best one-play commentary ever delivered in a football telecast:

Collinsworth: “And I’m sorry but I can’t believe the call.”

Al Michaels: “Me neither.”

Collinsworth: “I cannot believe the call. You’ve got Marshawn Lynch in the backfield. You’ve got a guy who’s been borderline unstoppable in this part of the field. I can’t believe the call.”

Bevell later said Lynch would have got the call on third down if the second-down pass was incomplete, but it fell on deaf ears.

If Lynch had carried for a 1-yard touchdown on that play, giving Seattle the victory, he would have had 107 rushing yards, two touchdowns and a critical 31-yard reception. He undoubtedly would have been named the game's MVP, and the list of Super Bowl MVPs is filled with future Hall of Famers.

Lynch had 24 carries in Super Bowl 49 and had not been tackled for a loss in any of them. His 318 yards and 106.0 yards per game average in the three playoff games was the most of anyone in that postseason, so were his 15 first-down runs. In the Seahawks previous year’s Super Bowl run, his 288 rushing yards and 14 first-down runs were also the most that season.

Lynch was a second-team All-Pro selection in 2014 (the season of the 2015 Super Bowl) after rushing for 1,306 yards and a league-leading 13 rushing touchdowns.

Would a Super Bowl MVP lifted Lynch from a very good NFL running back to a Hall of Famer?

Years later Lynch was talking to Hall of Fame tight end Shannon Sharpe, and Lynch said this:

“You took a dream away, you took a moment away, you arguably take a dynasty away . . . . Not only do you take away all that (stuff), but you put us in the history books as the dumbest call in football history.”

One excerpt of that interview includes this question from Sharpe, who asks, “Why didn’t they give you’re the ball?”

“Man, I have no idea.” Lynch said. “Nobody taking accountability for it.”

Lynch finished his NFL career with 10,413 yards, 30th alltime. Nineteen of the top 22 career rushers are in the Hall of Fame, so Lynch’s numbers at least put him in the discussion. He was selected to four Pro Bowls, was named first-team All-Pro once and second-team All-Pro once. Probably not enough for Hall membership. Would a Super Bowl MVP pushed him across the line to become the third former Cal star to enter the Pro Football Hall of Fame, along with Tony Gonzalez and Les Richter?

You can bet that in the Sunday pregame shows prior to Super Bowl LX, there will be video of Wilson’s 2015 Super Bowl interception, with Lynch fading to the left flat on the opposite side of the field.

The fact that Lynch was not voted into the Hall of Fame three days earlier probably will not be mentioned.

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