Pete Carroll, Seattle Seahawks, Super Bowl Bound or First Round Bust?

Seattle hired Pete Carroll to come to the Seahawks and revamp the team. Although veteran Matt Hasselbeck remained the starting quarterback, Carroll wanted to make the team younger.

He did so.

In the process, it hurt the Seahawks a bit, as injuries and inexperience led to inconsistency throughout the season.

They traded for Marshawn Lynch before the trade deadline, but the two-headed attack with Justin Forsett failed to rush consistently.

Somehow, some way, though, Carroll had his Seahawks in position to win the NFC West division in a Week 17 showdown with the division-leading St. Louis Rams, led by Steven Jackson and rookie quarterback Sam Bradford.

As the only game with guaranteed playoff implications, the NFL and NBC showcased the lowly but wild NFC West division on Sunday Night Football as the regular season finale.

Everyone knew with the division on the line it would be a close contest. It was essentially a playoff game in itself. The winner would advance to the Wild Card Round, while the loser would be watching the Super Bowl tournament from their homes. Or perhaps they wouldn’t be watching at all, still engulfed in failure and what-ifs.

Carroll handed the reins over to “Clipboard Jesus” Charlie Whitehurst, as Matt Hasselbeck was injured in the Week 16 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Whitehurst, more so than Hasselbeck, actually fits the bill of Pete Carroll’s vision. Carroll wants a young team, but also enough overlooked players who have been doubted or exiled from former teams. Marshawn Lynch, “Big” Mike Williams and Charlie Whitehurst are prime examples. These are the types of players Carroll can motivate to reach their full potential.

Williams was a star at USC under Carroll but had a terrible professional career prior to his excellent 2010 debut season in Seattle. Williams is one of the leading candidates for Comeback Player of the Year, as he caught 65 passes for 751 yards and two touchdowns.

He scored the most important touchdown of his career thus far in the Week 17 finale against the Rams. With the division on the line, Williams caught a four-yard touchdown from Whitehurst in the first quarter. The Seahawks took the lead and never looked back.

With a raucous home field behind them, the Seahawks defense played inspired football. Lynch lost a fumble in the contest but ran with power and determination throughout the night en route to 75 yards on the ground.

Whitehurst was the star of the night though. Declared a perennial backup throughout his career, Whitehurst led the Seahawks' charge the entire game. Although he did not have a great passing performance, he made fine decisions and made a few accurate, strong throws, but more importantly, he made plays.

On one rush attempt, he took a helmet straight to the wrist on a fairly hard hit as he didn’t get an adequate slide in quick enough but bounced right back up as the crowd roared on. This is the grit, determination and all-or-nothing style of play that Carroll needs out of his Seahawks if they hope to make a Super Bowl run.

The Seahawks are playing with house money. They won a playoff game to enter the tournament, but nobody expects them to make any noise whatsoever with their 7-9 losing record. Yet this is the most dangerous type of team in the playoffs. When players are doubted and have their backs against the wall, they are more willing to give everything they have to prove everyone wrong to upstage and upset the favorites. Even if overmatched on paper, anything can happen in the game of football.

With one of the best home-field advantages in the NFL, these Seahawks will look to start their Super Bowl championship run by taking out the defending Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints.

The question these Seahawks need to ask themselves before they step onto the field Saturday afternoon is if they believe in themselves enough to accomplish the mission.

Will they let the doubters cloud their minds, or will their heads be filled with Pete Carroll’s motivation?

They fought for their lives Week 17—do they have the power to will themselves to victory six days later?