All season long, the Seattle Seahawks’ defense carried them at times the offense sputtered. Its biggest challenge yet will come in Super Bowl XLVIII.
The Seahawks forced turnovers on the San Francisco 49ers’ final three drives, the last an interception by Malcolm Smith on a deflection by Richard Sherman in the end zone with 22 seconds to go that sealed a 23-17 victory in Sunday’s NFC Championship Game.
“This team was ready to finish,” Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said during the George Halas Trophy presentation to the conference champions.
But they’re not done just yet.
Next up is a title date with Peyton Manning and the high-powered Denver Broncos on Feb. 2 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.
It’s the second Super Bowl trip in the 38-year history of the Seahawks, who also went after the 2005 season and lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XL.
This NFC title triumph was particularly sweet. They rallied from an early 10-point deficit against the division rival 49ers, who lost last year’s Super Bowl to the Baltimore Ravens.
San Francisco quarterback Colin Kaepernick fumbled and threw an interception on the 49ers’ two drives before the late interception. But the Seahawks scored only one field goal off those turnovers, keeping the outcome in doubt.
Given the ball once more with 3 minutes, 15 seconds to go, Kaepernick completed four consecutive passes, including a fourth-and-2 crossing strike to Frank Gore as the 49ers drove to the Seattle 18.
But Sherman got a piece of Kaepernick’s jump-ball throw for Michael Crabtree in the end zone, and Smith corralled the carom, allowing Seattle to run out the clock.
It set off a celebration during which Sherman leaped into the stands at CenturyLink Field and New York, New York played over the stadium speakers.
“That’s as sweet as it gets, man,” Sherman said.
No players remain from that 2005 Seahawks team, and no one on Seattle’s roster has appeared in a Super Bowl. Neither has Carroll, who did take the University of Southern California to two BCS championship games before becoming the Seahawks’ coach in 2010.
They took their first lead at 20-17 with 13:52 to go in regulation after Carroll reconsidered a field-goal attempt on fourth-and-7 from the 35-yard line. Russell Wilson drew Aldon Smith offside and took advantage of the free play to throw a TD strike to Jermaine Kearse.
Minutes later, Cliff Avril came around the edge to strip Kaepernick as he tried to throw and Michael Bennett scooped the ball on a hop, giving Seattle a chance to push the lead to 10. But a botched exchange at the goal line left the Seahawks with nothing.
They made it 23-17 with 3:37 left on a field goal after Kam Chancellor intercepted a bad-idea throw from Kaepernick for Anquan Boldin at the sideline.
Then came the final drive that had tension high from an announced crowd of 68,454 that had seen the Seahawks offense stumble again and again from the time the game began.
Wilson finished 16-of-25 passing for 215 yards and the go-ahead touchdown but struggled all day to find anyone open in a Percy Harvin-less receiver group.
Smith sacked and stripped Wilson and recovered the fumble on the game’s opening play, setting up a 49ers field goal in a first half the visitors owned.
Kaepernick racked up 98 rushing yards on eight carries before halftime. That included consecutive scrambles of 12 and 58 yards to set up the game’s first touchdown, a 1-yard Anthony Dixon plunge on fourth-and-goal that made it 10-0 with 10:03 left in the half.
The Seahawks got on the scoreboard before halftime with a field goal after a 51-yard Wilson strike to Doug Baldwin. And Marshawn Lynch knotted the score after halftime, juking rookie safety Eric Reid in the hole and racing 40 yards for a touchdown to make it 10-all.
The 49ers regained the lead on the next drive, with Kaepernick gaining 22 yards on a designed keeper, catching a break when center Jonathan Goodwin recovered his fumble on a Bennett strip-sack and firing an off-balance bullet to Boldin for a 26-yard TD.
But Baldwin returned the kickoff 69 yards to set up a field goal that pulled Seattle within 17-13, and then Carroll’s bold decision to forego the field goal led to a touchdown and a lead the Seahawks never gave up.
Source-USA Today
