June 4, 2008

Best Seahawks Non-Playoff Season?

We're all spoiled these days... Five years in a row where our season extended well past New Year's Day have made it harder for me to remember that once upon a time we had to find someway to fondly remember non-playoff years.

Here's my picks for the best Seahawks non-playoff squads:

3. 2001 (9-7)

I was there in person to see this season begin with a rousing last-second win at Cleveland, and I saw it end with a win in the driving rain at Husky Stadium over KC (the way we missed the playoffs wicked sucked).

In between, I didn't have a dish yet, so I spent my sundays at loud, crappy sports bars eating fried dough and drinking cheap-ass beer. In the end, I used the expense of this weekly tradition to convince my wife we needed a dish. :-]

Doesn't it seem odd that there was a time where Dilfer seemed like Seattle's best option at QB? For a few magical weeks in 2001, dude could do no wrong.

2. 1990 (9-7)

This was the first year Post-Largent, and on some level I was kind of shocked we still bothered to field a squad without him. A 3-5 start pretty much confirmed the notion that there was nothing memorable about those guys.

Then Krieg-to-Skansi happened.... as I said here before:

You know this story.. I hope. The late, great Derrick Thomas sacks Dave Krieg SEVEN times, but somehow the Chiefs only hold a 16-10 late in the game. On the final play, from the KC 25, Krieg avoided Thomas for the first time all day and fired a missile to Paul Skansi between three KC defenders. TOUCHDOWN! SEAHAWKS WIN!!!! I jumped so high that I whacked my 15-year-old noggin on my basement ceiling, but it was worth it. This is the greatest play in Dave Krieg's illustrious Seattle career.


Sparked by that gridiron miracle, the Hawks finished with a 6-2 flourish, including a season-ending win over Detroit where Barry Sanders was held to under 20 yards rushing.

1. 1986 (10-6)

If you're old enough, you remember how the '86 team packed more thrills into five regular season weeks than the entire decade of the 1990s.... The thanksgiving beatdown in Dallas, a MNF shutout over the Raiders, and a 41-16 thrashing of the Super Bowl bound Broncos highlighted what was probably the most enjoyable month in Seahawks history (until 2005, of course).

What do y'all think?

3 comments:

SaraMichelle said...

I was nine in '86, and I totally remember watching the games with my Dad and seeing him totally freak out during that throttling of the Broncos. I think it was one of the moments that made me realize the Seattle Seahawks were quite possibly going to become my favorite professional sports team.

Anonymous said...

1978 Was intense. We lost a game at home to Denver in OT by a FG. The Denver Kicker missed his first FG from about the 10 yard line, but Dave Kraayveld (also from Milton College) was the 12th man on the field, and Denver got to kick the FG again. If we could have pulled that game out, we would have won the division and gone to the playoffs in our 3rd year.

gonzhawk said...

I know hindsight is 20/40 but I have always believed that in my heart of hearts, what a dumb cliche? eh? that the 1986 team was a team of destiny that was so freakin hot, we would have just run the table like the Gints of 2007 just did..I mean, didn't we beat that '86 superbowl bound team as well that year? we didn't just go on a 5 game win streak, we kicked everyone's ass!!!

It by far has to be the most intriguing non-playoff team of all time!! we so would have won that fucker!!!