A little perspective on the Seahawks' recent success

It's easy to get caught up in contract talk, what-if's, and potential future scenarios for the Seahawks in this coming season, and that can be stressful for a lot of people. I often compare the waves of panic on off-season twitter and in Field Gulls' comments sections to a much tamer and less consequential version of the stock market, where for no particular good reason -- maybe some 'expert' weighs in with his opinion on something -- a hysteria takes over and collective morale has a major swing. In the stock market, these morale dips create selling frenzies as paranoid investors look to protect their gains*. In the football world, these morale swings create a lot of bad comments and terrible tweets.

*Look, I don't know the stock market, so it's just a really simplified and probably factually incorrect metaphor

That said, it's expected. There's not a lot to talk about in the offseason. Our imaginations can run away from us. That's why, if you're stressing about some inane potential eventuality this afternoon, I wanted to slap you with a little perspective. Right now, it's extremely amazing to be a Seahawks fan, objectively. Seattle's fans have enjoyed two straight Super Bowl appearances and the great memories of the seasons that led up to them. They have some of the best personalities in sports to root for. There's a great amount of civic pride happening right now in Seattle, and the team looks destined to remain strong for some time.

If that doesn't work for you, just imagine being a fan in the other Washington.

The Redskins lost 9 games in 2014 by at least 10 pts. Lost 5 by at least 20. 3 of those 20-point losses came to teams with 6 or fewer wins.

— Jimmy Kempski (@JimmyKempski) July 14, 2015

Jimmy's kicking off his "dumpster fire" series examining why your team is a dumpster fire, and his tweet this morning caught my eye. Imagine being a fan of this team right now. I'm not saying this to talk trash, I'm not trying to throw gas on the fire, I'm just telling you how good you have it to be a Seahawk fan right now.

Washington lost nine games by at least ten points, and five by more than 20, last year alone. Seattle hasn't lost a game by more than ten points since November 6th, 2011.

Importantly, that loss acted as a catalyst for Pete Carroll and Tom Cable to re-dedicate themselves to the run game, and in many ways represented a watershed moment for the franchise. No more hurry-up offense. No more desperation gimmicks for competing. The Seahawks were going to play the brand of football that Pete wanted them to play, or nothing.

Three and a half full seasons later, and we've seen Seattle put up competitive games EVERY SINGLE WEEK without fail. The Playoff wins and all the excitement that comes with the postseason has been amazing too, of course, but just on a week-to-week basis, the Seahawks have been in every single game they've played since early November of 2011. That's really rare.

You've got it great.