:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/27948287/20140202_jla_su5_306.0.jpg)
If the Seattle Seahawks had to play against the Denver Broncos and the officials - an implication made by former Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren after his team was defeated by Pittsburgh in Super Bowl XL - they had no problems with either eight years later.
It's rare when a final score of 43-8 doesn't reflect how one-sided a game was.
That's what we saw in Super Bowl XLVIII when the Seattle Seahawks kicked five kinds out of the Denver Broncos.
It was a stroll down memory lane to the glory days of Denver's Super Bowl malaise. If one tried hard enough, one could see John Elway in his orange jersey, Karl Mecklenburg at middle linebacker, and an opposing NFC West team able to do whatever it wanted to do in three phases of the game.
Seattle's defense did nothing fancy; it just knocked every Broncos receiver off their routes. As Denver continued to stubbornly attempt to block Seattle's uber athletic linebackers and secondary with those same receivers, the Seahawks tackled beautifully - to the point where the game's MVP should have been given to the Seahawks' entire defensive unit.
Malcolm Smith was individually named the team's MVP, collecting the award on behalf of the most dominant defensive teams to win a championship. Perhaps it's poetic justice Smith, the player who intercepted the pass against San Francisco in the conference championship game after it was tipped by Richard Sherman leading to his epic post-game rant, picked up the individual accolades. Whomever would have won that award, the fact it went to a defensive player after quarterback Russell Wilson played largely flawlessly shows how outstanding Seattle's defense was.
As for Denver, they grab the 31st pick in the 2014 NFL Draft, likely feeling much more like a 3-13 team than a Super Bowl finalist. It was the most lopsided Super Bowl since the days of Marv Levy and the Dallas Cowboys' 52-17 thrashing of the Buffalo Bills.
Seattle will keep much of the same group intact for the 2014 season, with the likelihood of a repeat championship, on paper, much stronger than the past few Super Bowl winners in a parity-driven league.
