The Vince Lombardi Trophy is Seattle’s now. The great Pacific Northwest is getting a piece of Super Bowl history it richly deserves. But for Denver and pretty much everywhere else, Super Bowl XLVIII could go down as the worst one in the series of them.
Yep, that’s right. Super Bowl XLVIII was terrible from a non-Seahawk fans perspective.
Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning walks off the field during the second half of Super Bowl XLVIII on Sunday. (Chris O’Meara/AP Photo)
The final score, 43-8, doesn’t even look right and it just sounds ugly. And it was. Let’s face it, blowouts in Super Bowls are huge buzzkills for everybody outside of the home market of the winning team.
There are two weeks of non-stop hype and often manufactured drama. The game had a five-time MVP in Peyton Manning at the controls of the highest-ranking offense in NFL history! There was no way this game couldbe a dud. Way.Manning and his offense got gobbled up by a vicious-hitting defense that set the tone of the game and turned it into a laughter. On the first snap — yes, the very first snap of the game — the ball sailed into the end zone for a Seahawks safety and a 2-0 lead.
2-0? We should have known this game was going to be ugly.
It got worse. Denver didn’t show up. They were flat and out of sync and out of sorts. The Seattle defense had a lot to do with that, but come on, it was a pathetic performance. Truly pathetic.
43-8? Yep, I’m putting this down as the worst Super Bowl ever for non-Seahawks fans. This was worse than the time John Elway and his Broncos got shellacked by Joe Montana and the San Francisco 49ers, 55-10, in the Louisiana Superdome in Super Bowl XXIV.
When it was announced that Peyton Manning set a Super Bowl record for most completions, everyone in the press room laughed. When Demaryius Thomas established the mark for most receptions people muttered, “Big deal.” The Broncos were dinking and dunking with their short passing game, and that was ugly and boring, too.
Rejoice Seattle. This is your moment and your time. The Lombardi Trophy is your enjoy it. You deserve it.
The rest of the country didn’t deserve to see a Super Bowl as bad as this one. From the perspective of a non 12th Man, it was truly awful and, unquestionably, the worst in NFL history.