The Seahawks Fan's Guide to Super Bowl LV

It is officially Super Bowl week. With the dust starting to settle from the Seahawks’ disappointing 30-20 wild-card loss to the Rams last month, fans left with a bad taste in their mouth may be more inclined to tune into the final NFL game of the season before the long countdown to training camp begins.

If you’re unsure about who to pull for in this game, both teams don’t necessarily make a strong case to lean one way or another.

Only two former Seahawks will be participating in this week’s festivities: Chiefs edge rusher Frank Clark and Buccaneers receiver Cyril Grayson Jr. The latter, mind you, is only a member of Tampa Bay’s practice squad and may very well not suit up this Sunday.

Of course, there will likely be a significant portion of Seahawks fans who will be rooting against Bucs quarterback Tom Brady. Whether it’s due to Seattle’s heartbreaking loss to Brady and the Patriots in Super Bowl XLIX or a culmination of other outside factors, Tampa Bay will certainly have detractors in general because of their future Hall of Fame signal-caller.

Some fans may also find themselves rooting against Brady’s counterpart on the Chiefs, Patrick Mahomes, due to the (silly) debate about whether he or Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson is the current best player at their shared position. However, given how the second half of the 2020 season went for Wilson, that argument has died down quite a bit for the time being. Even if Mahomes and the Chiefs fall to the Bucs in this one, it’s hard to see that changing things in any way.

Perhaps the Seahawks’ history with the Chiefs from their days in the AFC West or the fact the Bucs play in the same conference as Seattle is enough for one to pick a side. If you really want to grasp at straws here, only one NFC team has taken home the Vince Lombardi trophy since the Seahawks did it in 2013: the Eagles, who defeated Brady and New England in Super Bowl LII by a score of 41-33.

Again, there just aren’t a whole ton of legitimate reasons to root for one team or the other, at least from the perspective of a Seahawks fan. Depending on what kind of fan you are, this may be the best possible outcome for a Super Bowl that doesn’t feature Seattle because of that. From a pure football outlook, the storylines of old-school versus new-school with Brady and Mahomes, the Bucs being the first team to play a Super Bowl in their home stadium, and two underrated defenses with plenty of playmakers have this lining up to be one of the better championship matchups in recent memory.