Former Seahawks and Super Bowl champions are on the verge of a Cinderella run to New Orleans.
The NFL has its Cinderella story of the 2024 season, and it involves former Seattle Seahawks.
In the biggest upset of this year’s NFL Playoffs, the Washington Commanders took out the No. 1 seed Detroit Lions in a 45-31 slugfest that will leave Lions fans heartbroken and devastated in ways that will feel much different than their decades worth of sub-.500 seasons. The Commanders allowed over 500 yards of offense and didn’t force a punt after the first quarter, but did get four turnovers off of Jared Goff and an interception off of Jameson Williams on a failed trick play. Quinn gave Dan Campbell a taste of his own medicine, with his offense converting 3-of-4 on 4th down (and really, 4-of-5 considering the penalty on Detroit). Every conversion led to a touchdown. A nice reminder that Quinn might have come from Pete Carroll’s staff, but that doesn’t mean he coaches like Pete or shares the same philosophies.
Dan Quinn, who was the Seahawks’ defensive coordinator for the 2013 and 2014 seasons, is in the NFC Championship Game in his first season as Washington’s head coach. Bobby Wagner, the future Hall of Famer and perennial All-Pro linebacker, is almost back in the Super Bowl thanks to a win that occurred on the 10-year anniversary of Seattle’s last NFC Championship appearance.
Quinn previously reached the Super Bowl as head coach of the Atlanta Falcons back in 2016. I’m sure he’d rather not remember what happened in that game. Wagner stayed with the Seahawks until 2021 and then reunited in 2023, but from 2021-2023 he failed to reach the playoffs with either Seattle or the Los Angeles Rams. Add in the 2020 Wild Card exit and he hadn’t experienced a playoff win since 2019. Enter Jayden Daniels, Kliff Kingsbury, a revamped roster, coaching staff, front office, and ownership, and you have a new era of Commanders football.
The Commanders will play either the Philadelphia Eagles or Los Angeles Rams on the road in next week’s NFC Championship. We might be the biggest Commanders fans out there if the Rams win on Sunday.
Well done to Quinn, Wagner, Tyler Ott, Nick Bellore, Bobby Engram, Darryl Tapp, Larry Izzo, Ken Norton Jr, Scott Fitterer, and Paul Skansi! All former Seahawks who are with the Commanders in some capacity and on the brink of a special run to New Orleans.