There was a time when I loved the NFL. I still do, but not nearly as much. I don't know when my NFL interest peaked. It probably had already crested by the time the 2013 NFC Championship Game was played, on a cloudy, but calm night in our Northern NFL outpost in Seattle. But it was still near its apex. I will say it was the last time I truly enjoyed the sport in its entirety, the game before the victor here (Seattle) romped over Peyton in his last great season. The following year, Manning started great and suddenly lost it in Week 12. The next year, his team won the Super Bowl, but he was a shell of himself. Since then he retired, and Brady won another Super Bowl and will win another MVP (and who are we kidding, another Super Bowl). But this was a different time. Manning was the best QB in the NFL. Had a clear line of sight on the GOAT title. Brady hadn't won a Super Bowl in 9 years. I could sit back and enjoy a game. And man did I ever.
That said, I didn't watch the game live. I watched it in its entirety a few hours after it started, if not finished. That's because I didn't watch the Patriots @ Broncos AFC Championship before this. I couldn't. I did not think I could handle it. I watched The Godfather Pt. 2 instead. When that was over, I checked the score on ESPN.com - one of the most nervous few seconds of my life was when that page loaded - and saw the Broncos won. I was overjoyed. And then I watched football.
The 2013 NFC Championship was in a way preordained. The Seahawks and 49ers were the two best teams in the NFC that season (quick shout-out to Carolina, who went 12-4 and lost to the 49ers in the divisional round). They were the two hottest teams in the NFC the previous year. They had two of the next-generation type QBs, two dominant defenses, and played a fun little game of 'Anything you can do I can do better' in the offseason, with the Seahawks answering the niners signing of Anquan Boldin by trading for Percy Harvin a few days later. When the season started it felt like this is how it would end. And it did.
In 2007, 2009 and 2011, the NFC hosted the 2nd Championship Game on Championship Sunday. Each one was a classic, three of the 10 or so best NFL playoff games I've seen period. A consistent throughline in each was the setting adding to the overall quality; the atmosphere helping to build up the moment. The best example was 2007, in a Lambeau Field that was -3 degrees, -27 with wind chill. But even 2009, with the ridiculous atmosphere in the Superdome, and 2011, with the rainy haze in Candlestick, one of the last Cathedrals in the NFL prior to it being torn down, the atmosphere played a role. And while there was no weather, there was noise, and there was isolation, this game being played in some tucked away corner of our country.
What also helped set the tone of the game was its defensive nature. I've always been open for my love of defensive football - one of the reasons that I've enjoyed this season outside of the Patriots continued annoying brilliance is the comeback that defenses made - and even in a year that still holds the record for most points scored, defense mattered in a big way. The 49ers and Seahawks staged a ridiculous battle of defenses, with the Seahawks secondary matching point for point with the 49ers incredible front-7. The scoring was mostly all driven by turnovers, or miraculous plays by Seattle (a patented Wilson scramble 15 yards behind the LOS and 50-yard launch, or a 4th down bomb for a TD, or Kaepernick's general brilliance in those days). Every first down seemed a minor miracle. Every play was an opportunity to be wowed by defense.
There were so many amazing moments in that pulsating contest. The sacks, the incredible play by Navarro Bowman to strip a ball while having his ACL torn (cruelly, the play was called dead and the fumble did not count), or the subsequent 4th down stop. Of course, the capper was the Richard Sherman play, but more on that later.
What struck me most about the game though was how this is the type of football I wanted to see, the type of football that just seems more emblamatic of what the sport should be. I rewatched the game the following day with my parents who were travelling earlier that weekend (it was MLK weekend, I believe), and they had an observation that was fairly astute: this seemed like a different, more serious, more intense game than what the Patriots and Broncos played earlier that day. And of course it was. In that other game, the Patriots hit Peyton one time and he had 400 yards passing. The QBs didn't combine for 400 yards passing in this one, and not for a lack of trying.
The atmosphere was just different. The dark field as night descended in Seattle, mixing with those dark Seattle uniforms and the classic look of the 49ers, mixed together to form a potent cocktail. The energy in the stadium was as well. Seattle cheats in a way, creating a stadium that literally was built to make it sound louder than it really is, but cheating has its benefits.
The game ended the way it should, with defense ruling the day. That last 49ers drive was so perfectly set-up. They were down 6, 80 yards from stealing the NFC Championship. Immediately they were forced to convert a 4th down, and they did it by having Kaepernick roll left, throw across his body, to Frank Gore, probably the 4th option on the play. It took those sorts of miracles to just get 1st downs. The drive continued with Crabtree catching two passes (ironically, Crabtree had a really good game, making the Sherman - Crabtree banter all the more ironic), and the 49ers found themselves about 20 yards away with 30 seconds to go. And then Kaepernick got greedy, and Sherman made a ridiculous play to tap away the ball on a deep fade, and of course a Seahawk was right there to snatch it, as it always seemed like they had 13 guys out there on defense. And just like that, one of the great playoff games of our lifetimes was over.
Of course, it wasn't just over. There was a little Sherman-ness left to go, with his memorable interview, but given that I found that whole affair way overblown no need to recount it here. All in all it was a continuation of the game, one with a ridiculous level of intensity throughout, with two teams constructed over a three-year period to play in that game.
This game effectively closed a chapter of the NFL book. The 49ers fell off the next year to 8-8, a year that ended with Jim Harbaugh running off to Michigan, and a number of players retiring. The Seahawks continued to be good, but even for them they were never this good again. The Pacific Northwest has been the site of numerous other great games, including the OT NFC Championship Game the next year, but no game felt as important, as meaningful, as perfect for that city and that stadium.
This game effectively closed a chapter of the NFL book. The 49ers fell off the next year to 8-8, a year that ended with Jim Harbaugh running off to Michigan, and a number of players retiring. The Seahawks continued to be good, but even for them they were never this good again. The Pacific Northwest has been the site of numerous other great games, including the OT NFC Championship Game the next year, but no game felt as important, as meaningful, as perfect for that city and that stadium.
