Project Seahawks: Seattle's Path From Super Bad to Super Bowl

The 2010 NFL season doesn't begin for another six months, and everyone's focused on the NCAA March Madness tournament...But after a full day of upsets on the hardwood, my bracket is in bigger trouble than Tiger Woods and Jesse James combined, and I want to look toward the gridiron. 

Seattle, Wash. is home to Starbucks, Microsoft, Amazon, and a plethora of underrated NFL fans who are as eager to earn a championship as they are to show up and make Qwest Field one of the loudest stadiums in the nation.

Unfortunately, in a city that's used to its share of downpours, Seattle's 12th man has seen nothing but a recent franchise plagued with injury and disappointment. With only nine wins in the last two seasons, and a past decade with four total wins in six post season appearances, all we have is one NFC Championship and a Super Bowl appearance we'll insist never even happened. 

Then, in the haziness of a lost Super Bowl hangover, Seattle loses Steve Hutchinson to Minnesota, Walter Jones decides he won't block anymore, and Shaun Alexander begins to think he's playing a game of two-hand-touch. Pretty soon, Matt Hasselbeck no longer has the offensive leadership he needs, or the line to prevent his injury, the defense is over matched, and the city of Seattle is stuck with the laughing stock of the NFL. 

Something needed to change, and finally, here came the shake up.

Head Coach Mike Holmgren retires in 2008 and is replaced by young and bright-eyed Jim Mora Jr. However, after 11 losses in 2009, Mora Jr. gets turfed, GM Tim Ruskell resigns, and it's back to the drawing board.

Pete Carroll leaves his Southern California collegiate powerhouse for the pros, and is hired on Jan. 9, 2010 on a hope and prayer that USC transformed him into the great NFL coach he never has been.

Now, owner Paul Allen is armed with nothing but a ton of cash and the freedom to buy the staff and roster necessary to get the Seahawks what they want; a world championship. In the wake so far, a trail of consistent change, speculation and prediction. 

Most recently, the Hawks picked up the San Diego Chargers' third-string QB Charlie Whitehurst. All they had to give up was 20 spots in the second-round of the 2010 draft, as well as a third-round pick in 2011. A two-year, $8 million deal for a QB that has never even taken a regular season snap.

Along with general panic, the pick is causing many Seahawks fans to question whether the new management is paving the way for future failure. 

Optimistically, the situation resembles Holmgren's trade for Hasselbeck in 2001, when the Hawks switched first-round picks with Green Bay and traded a third-round draft choice for the future pro-bowler. Both QBs were inexperienced, but backed all-pros. The question remains whether or not Whitehurst will be able to replace Hasselbeck as the starter, become a Pro Bowl QB, and maybe this time, win us the Super Bowl.