Description
The 2014 Seattle Seahawks season was the franchise’s 39th season in the National Football League and the fifth under head coachPete Carroll. The Seahawks started the season as the defending Super Bowl champions for the first time in franchise history.
The season began with a 36–16 victory over the Green Bay Packers in their first meeting since the controversial Fail Mary Game. After struggling to a 3–3 record, which included a rare home loss to the Dallas Cowboys, they went on a 9–1 run to finish the season, which included a sweep of their division rivals, the Arizona Cardinals, who battled with them the whole season. They repeated as NFC Westchampions and finished in a three-way tie with the Packers and Cowboys for the NFC’s best record, but earned the No. 1 seed based on tiebreakers, securing home-field advantage for the second consecutive season. This was the first time that a defending Super Bowl champion retained the No. 1 seed in the next season since the 1990 San Francisco 49ers. They were also the first team overall to repeat as the #1 seed in the NFC since the 2004 Philadelphia Eagles; and the first NFL team to do so since the 2013 Denver Broncos.
The Seahawks opened the playoffs with a win over the Carolina Panthers in the Divisional round, becoming the first defending champion since the 2005 Patriots to win a playoff game the following season. In one of the greatest comebacks in NFL history, the Seahawks advanced to Super Bowl XLIX by defeating the Green Bay Packers 28-22 in overtime after trailing 16-0 at halftime and 19-7 with less than three minutes left in regulation. In doing so, they became the first team since the 2004 New England Patriots to repeat as conference champions, the first NFC team since the 1997 Green Bay Packers to repeat as NFC Champions, the first team to go to consecutive Super Bowls as the #1 seed in the playoffs since the 1990-1991 Buffalo Bills, and the first NFC team to go to consecutive Super Bowls as the #1 seed in the playoffs since the 1982-1983 Washington Redskins. In Super Bowl XLIX, the Seahawks were defeated by the Patriots 28–24, thereby being dethroned as World Champions [1] and failing to become the first repeat champion since the 2004 New England Patriots.
