Super Bowl Sunday rolled around and, according to the Associated Press, Nevada casinos were flooded with a record $119.4 million in bets.
The only seemingly sure bet, though, was that the No. 1 offense in the NFL and the No. 1 defense in the NFL would provide a title matchup for the ages.
Whoof, was I wrong. Good thing I didn’t place that bet (or any other).
What was sure to be a fantastic game quickly evaporated into a snooze-fest that had me clamoring for the Red Hot Chili Peppers. (As for Bruno Mars, I could take him or leave him.)
But what can we learn from the 43-8 stomping that the Seahawks put on the Broncos?
Is it that, despite all the rule changes that favor offense, defense still wins championships?
No, what we learned is, first and foremost, that the best team wins championships.
Second, we learned that great defense can win championships over great offense, but the defense cannot do it by itself.
Yes, Seattle technically scored on defense 12 seconds into the game, but that was not directly because of their defense. It was really because of miscommunication among the Broncos’ offense.
And yes, Seattle’s defense picked Manning off twice in the first half and those turnovers translated into 14 Seahawks’ points.
But only the second first-half interception was a direct score for the Seahawks.
So yes, the Seattle defense put their offense in the position to win the game, but the defense was not alone in winning Super Bowl XLVIII.
The reason the Seahawks prevailed is simply because they were the better team.
Make no mistake about it, the Seahawks’ defense played spectacularly and limited one of the best quarterbacks of all time and his team to just eight points.
But there is far more to a team win than just one facet of the game. Seattle scored in all three phases, including an electric second-half kickoff return for a touchdown by Percy Harvin.
It was clear that Seattle had won a team championship based on the player who was named MVP.
It could easily have been a player from the defensive line, linebacking core or secondary; it could also have been the quarterback, the running back or a receiver.
It was, in the end, linebacker Malcolm Smith.
Who among us (who isn’t a die-hard Seahawks fan) knew who Malcolm Smith was before the playoffs began, or even before he was named the game’s MVP?
Defense doesn’t win championships. Teams win championships.
Tim Carroll
Senior Sports Editor