Just how lucky have I been as a Seattle resident and Seahawks fan, since moving here in 2004? I guess it all started with falling into a season ticket in the Hawks Nest with a bunch of now very close friends that grew up in the mean, mean streets of Newport Hills. I have also been lucky to have witnessed a spectacular run of Seahawks success, offset slightly by possible hearing damage earned in the Hawks Nest. But just how great has this run been, relative to the rest of the NFL teams? I thought it would be interesting to rate the Hawks’ success in the playoffs versus the rest of the NFL over the last 10 seasons, since I adopted the Seattle Seahawks (and pretty much stopped watching the Red Wings). This is a particularly pleasing time to measure such things, even if the process suffers from a bit of end point selection bias. Onward!
I have highlighted the general criteria I used in the rankings, with general thoughts below:
- Super Bowl wins trump all, no matter how much I dislike Roethlisberger or Eli... or how much the Niners Nation points to the last 3 years in the NFC Championship.
- I put the Cardinals and Bears ahead of the Chargers, because their fans at least got to see their team in the SB.
- I wanted to account for the fact the first round byes have some value. Your team feels like it has already won a playoff game, though it isn't quite as good as an actual win in the Wildcard round. I calculated win % with and without byes included.
- As an Ohio boy, I would like to put the Bengals higher with 5 years in the playoffs, but c'mon... you gotta win one.
- As a Toledo boy, I have to acknowledge the pain of the Mistakes on the Lakes... the Lions, Bills, and Bears have combined for 1 playoff appearance (0% win) and a pair of #DIV/0! errors. I'm going on record as saying at least 2 of those teams make the playoffs this year, with at least 1 win!
The Seahawks come in #4 over the last 10 years, making me pretty darn lucky. With another Lombardi trophy this year (bonus points for repeating) and the extra wins that go along with it, we would be solidly on top, of course!
Go Hawks!