Looking back on Seahawks’ 3 previous Super Bowl appearances

Super Bowl LX will mark the Seahawks’ fourth appearance in the NFL championship game, and each of Seattle’s first three trips featured their own distinct drama, each more memorable than the last.

Here’s a refresher on the Seahawks’ history in the Super Bowl (whether you want to relive them or not):

Super Bowl XL (Feb. 5, 2006): Steelers 21, Seahawks 10

The Seahawks won their first NFC championship with a Mike Holmgren-coached offense that seemed to do whatever it wanted behind a dominant offensive line anchored by future Hall of Famers Walter Jones and Steve Hutchinson.

Shaun Alexander became the Seahawks’ first — and only — league MVP after he rushed for 1,880 yards and matched the NFL record with 27 rushing touchdowns, and Matt Hasselbeck had his most efficient season quarterbacking the league’s No. 1 scoring offense.

All of which made the offense’s clunker in the Super Bowl all the more surprising.

For much of the game, the Seahawks looked like the better team, but they couldn’t overcome their own miscues — two missed field goals, seven penalties and Hasselbeck’s fourth-quarter interception.

“I’m more disappointed in how we played in certain areas,” Holmgren said after the game. “I think we were careless with the football, and we had way too many penalties.”

Eventually, the Steelers took advantage. Willie Parker ran 75 yards on the second play of the second half — the longest run in Super Bowl history — and Hines Ward’s trick-play touchdown from fellow receiver Antwaan Randle El was the Steelers’ finishing touch.

From Seattle’s perspective, the Seahawks’ first Super Bowl appearance has long been a source of bitterness over several controversial calls that went in Pittsburgh’s favor.

Several years later, referee Bill Leavy acknowledged his missed calls had caused him to lose sleep.

“When we make mistakes, you got to step up and own them,” Leavy said in 2010. “It was a tough thing for me. I kicked two calls in the fourth quarter and I impacted the game, and as an official you never want to do that.”

Super Bowl XLVIII (Feb. 2, 2014): Seahawks 43, Broncos 8

Just 12 seconds in, Seahawks defensive end Cliff Avril was credited for a tackle in the end zone after Denver botched the game’s first snap, giving Seattle a safety and setting the tone for one of the most dominant defensive performances in Super Bowl history.

The Seahawks simply walloped Peyton Manning and the highest-scoring offense in NFL history. 

Denver, averaging 37.9 points in the regular season, had come in as a 2.5-point favorite over the Seahawks and their famed Legion of Boom defense. Just two other Super Bowls have ended in more lopsided fashion: San Francisco’s 55-10 victory over Denver in 1990 and Chicago’s 46-10 victory over New England in 1986.

“This team has got to go down as one of the best defenses of all time,” Seahawks defensive end Red Bryant bellowed. “It’s got to. And the best thing about it is they called us misfits, overachievers, said that nobody wanted us. But now we’re the best.”

Marshawn Lynch’s 1-yard TD run early in the second quarter gave the Seahawks a 15-0 lead.

Manning threw two interceptions, one of which MVP Malcolm Smith returned for a 69-yard touchdown to give the Seahawks a 22-0 halftime lead. 

Percy Harvin erased any hope of a Broncos comeback when he returned the opening kickoff of the second half 87 yards for a touchdown.

“We played our style of ball,” Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said. “It really wasn’t about the other guys. We just played the way we play. I’m glad that it came out like that, so clearly, so obviously.”

Jermaine Kearse and Dough Baldwin had second-half touchdown receptions from Russell Wilson, and the Seahawks brought the Lombardi Trophy to Seattle for the first time in franchise history.

Super Bowl XLIX (Feb. 1, 2015): Patriots 28, Seahawks 24

An epic game with a most epic finish. For the Seahawks, it’s an ending that will linger forever.  

Wilson threw what has become the most debated pass in Super Bowl history, and the Patriots’ Malcolm Butler came down with the most consequential interception in NFL history — a play that, 11 years, later still defies explanation.

That the Seahawks, trailing by four points, didn’t give the ball to Marshawn Lynch at the 1-yard line in the closing seconds remains a hotly debated question.

Russell, Carroll and offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell each took ownership of the fateful play call. Ultimately, Carroll said the decision fell on him.

“I told them that clearly,” Carroll said immediately afterward. “I didn’t want them to think anything other than that. They busted their tails and did everything they needed to do to put us in position, and unfortunately it didn’t work out. A very, very hard lesson.”

The Super Bowl win was the fourth (of six) coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady would win together for the Patriots.