Seattle Seahawks: nfl FUTURES & BETTING ODDS

The Seattle Seahawks were born into the NFL in 1976 as an expansion team, but they weren’t the first team to be called by their moniker. Miami had boasted a football team called the Seahawks in 1946, which played in the AAFC. However, that team history doesn’t belong to Miami or Seattle – the Seahawks moved to Baltimore and became the historic Colts.

But regardless, the Seahawk nickname was chosen after a fan naming contest. Owner Lloyd Nordstrom chose to represent the city’s Native American history and copied a piece of Native American art as the logo. The team colors were green and blue until 2001, when the Seahawks underwent a rebrand of sorts, making the logo a little more birdlike and darker, with navy, silver, and neon green parts of its color scheme.

Seattle’s football franchise began its history like most expansion teams – poorly. Even with HOF WR Steve Largent, the team failed to make the playoffs in its first seven seasons in the NFL. In 1983, however, the team hired former Buffalo head coach Chuck Knox, and the results were immediate. A bet on the Seattle Seahawks to win their division wouldn’t pay, but the team would snag a wildcard and win the first playoff game in its history, beating Denver 31-7. The Seattle Seahawks odds weren’t great to advance further, but they surprised AFC East champion Miami, and moved on to the AFC title game. However, a bet on the Seattle Seahawks to reach their first Super Bowl ever wouldn’t pay, as the team would lose to eventual champion Oakland, 30-14.

Knox took the team back to the playoffs in ’84, but the team was ousted by Miami in the divisional round. Seattle would make two more playoff appearances in the ‘80s, even winning their first division crown in 1988, but QB Dave Kreig would only take the team as far as the divisional round.

The 1990s were less kind to Seattle, as the team would make a single playoff appearance in the decade. However, that 1999 season marked the first for former Packers head coach Mike Holmgren. While Holmgren would miss the playoffs in three out of his first four years, the Seattle Seahawks odds for success increased exponentially. Holmgren built a devastating running attack, centered around RB Shaun Alexander, and in 2005 Seattle reached their first Super Bowl. However, a bet on the Seattle Seahawks would not pay, as the Pittsburgh Steelers won the game, 21-10.

Holmgren would step down in 2008, having won four consecutive division titles between ’04 & ’07 and racking up a .538 winning percentage in ten seasons at the helm. Former USC head coach Pete Carroll was hired a year later, who would end up reshaping the Seahawks identity.

Carroll created the Legion of Boom defense, the nickname of a devastating secondary led by CB Richard Sherman and S Earl Thomas. Carroll won a division title with a 7-9 record in his first season at the helm, the first time a team with a losing record to make the playoffs. In 2010, the Seahawks traded for RB Marshawn Lynch, and in 2012, the team drafted QB Russell Wilson in the 3rd round. Wilson and Lynch quickly remade the Seahawks into a formidable foe. The Seattle Seahawks odds were sky high, and fans jumped on the bandwagon.

In Wilson’s rookie season, Seattle grabbed a wildcard spot. In his sophomore campaign, Carroll and his defense paved the way for a 13-3 record and the #1 seed in the NFC. Following victories against New Orleans and San Francisco, Seattle matched up against fellow #1 seed Denver in Super Bowl XLVIII. The Seattle Seahawks odds to win their first title were a little long – Denver was 2.5-point favorites – but this time, a bet on the Seattle Seahawks would pay handsomely. The Legion of Boom throttled Peyton Manning and the Broncos’ offense, and Seattle won its first championship, 43-8.

The following year, Wilson, Carroll and the Legion of Boom went back to the Super Bowl, this time facing Tom Brady and the New England Patriots. A bet on the Seattle Seahawks was popular – for the first time in NFL history, the line for the game was a pick ‘em. However, in what some argue is the greatest Super Bowl ever, Wilson was intercepted on the 1-yard line with a few ticks left, and Seattle lost, 28-24.

Since 2014, it’s been popular to bet on the Seattle Seahawks, and the Seattle Seahawks odds to win the Super Bowl rank up with the top teams in the league every year. However, some might argue that Wilson and co. have underachieved. They haven’t made an NFC championship game since, even though they’ve posted a winning record every season. Each year, it’s been a different team to dismiss the Seahawks, and the Seattle Seahawks odds haven’t been great – they’ve been underdogs all four times. That changed in 2020, as they won the NFC West and lost at home to an underdog Rams team. However, with Carroll and Wilson at the helm, many feel it’s only a matter of time before Seattle is knocking on the door of their second NFL championship.