Seahawks 14, Chiefs 10 (AKA I must be silent, must contain my secret smile)

The #1 predictor of team success in the NFL is outstanding quarterback play. Sure, sometimes a team can have an elite QB performance and miss the postseason entirely (2008 Saints)... and sometimes a great defense can carry a team with merely competent quarterbacking to a Lombardi Trophy (2000 Ravens, 2002 Bucs), but any amount of research into the modern NFL leads to this conclusion: Having an elite QB massively increases a team's chances to reach the Super Bowl, while lacking such a player radically REDUCES the probability of your team playing in February. So, aside from anything else you've seen this August from the Seahawks, these numbers should leave you giddy:

38/53/414/4/1

Passer Rating: 111.7

Those are Beck's numbers in the 2009 preseason. As Dr. Venture might say, "Ladysmith Black Mambazo!" Yes, yes... It's "just preseason." Yes, yes... This doesn't mean anything if our makeshift O-line allows him to get injured... But The Objectivist looks sharp, and is clearly clicking with TJH and John "Jeebus" Carlson.

What I'm about to say isn't nearly as crazy as it sounds: If Hasselbeck can give us a full season anywhere near this level, the Seahawks can go to XLIV... and they can win.

So, maybe you don't want to shout that from the rooftops yet, I get it... But by yourself, watching this... you should have a Joker-level smile plastered on your face, fellow Twelves.

Special thanks go out to Seahawk Addicts, my friend Mark and my little brother James, who all fed me text updates about the game while I drove through the Ohio wilderness last night...