Groz: Are Seahawks the NFC’s team of the decade? We’re about to find out

Nov 14, 2019, 11:41 AM

Russell Wilson's Seahawks and Drew Brees' Saints could both be NFC team of the decade. (AP)

(AP)

Seattle Sports Host Emeritus

One of the more surprising things in the movie “Annie Hall” is finding out Diane Keaton can sing when she belts out the old Guy Lombardo classic “Seems Like Old Times.” And that’s how it feels to me as the NFL season enters the final six weeks.

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Slugging it out for the NFC’s No. 1 seed, we have the Packers and Aaron Rodgers, the Saints and Drew Brees, the Seahawks and Russell Wilson, and the 49ers and Colin… well, OK, just the 49ers. For most of this decade, those teams have been at or near the top of the NFC.

The Falcons, Panthers and Vikings have popped up in recent years in the conference, and of course the 49ers have been down since they lost Jim Harbaugh and Colin Kaepernick. But as much as the Patriots have dominated the AFC, it’s been the Packers, Saints, Seahawks and 49ers that have a claim as the NFC’s best franchise. Since 2010 (the year, not the season), those teams have played in the NFC championship game nine times – including two times against each other (Seahawks-49ers in 2014, then Seahawks-Packers a year later). Not only that, but those four teams have played in five Super Bowls.

That means this year could very well determine the team of the decade in the NFC.

The best quarterback this year is in Seattle, which is why I think Russell Wilson and the Seahawks may have the best chance of the four to get back to the big game. Another stat that jumps out is the Seahawks’ 5-0 record on the road after handing the 49ers their first loss of the season on Monday.

Of the teams mentioned, only the Saints’ Sean Payton and Seahawks’ Pete Carroll have been coaching the whole time, and their teams look it. The Seahawks’ Monday night win over San Francisco, with the exception of five Seattle fumbles, was classic Pete Carroll football. Not always pretty, raw and emotional, hard-hitting with spectacular plays and some head-scratching decisions. The Saints, meanwhile, are never out of a game with Brees, and they have a big chip on their shoulder after the refereeing debacle in last year’s NFC Championship game, which they lost to the Los Angeles Rams.

It’s why after Week 10, I see the Seahawks and Saints meeting to determine the team of the decade in this year’s NFC Championship. Now this is the NFL, where perceptions are changed on a weekly basis, so I may feel differently in a week. But a redo of the Beast Quake with Chris Carson would be, in the words of Pete Carroll, pretty cool.

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