Seahawks are 1/2 Super Bowl Champs!

With a tip of the ball by Richard Sherman and Malcolm Smith catching it, the Seattle Seahawks secured their second birth in the Super Bowl but it was not an easy win for the Hawks last night.

On the first play from scrimmage Russell Wilson fumbled the ball and Aldon Smith recovered. The Seahawks defense though held Colin Kaepernick and the 49er offense to only a field goal. The Seahawks next possession would see a 3 and out after Marshawn Lynch failed twice to get 2 and 1 yards so John Ryan would punt the ball back to the Niners. Kaepernick would run for 29 yards on the ensuing drive for the Niners but the Seahawks D would shut'em down and make them punt.

Though on the next possession by the 49ers Kaepernick would burn the Seahawks defense for 70 yards! Jim Harbaugh's team would fail to convert on a 3rd down running play but Harbaugh would go for it on 4th down and Anthony Dixon would get the carry for the second consecutive run play and score to put the Niners up 10-0.

The CLink and the 12th Man were in awe as the Niners were shutting down one of the best offensive team's in the NFL. On a 2nd and 7 Russell Wilson teed up and threw a bomb to Doug Baldwin for 51 yards and so for the first time in the game the Seahawks were in the red zone, but unfortunately the 49ers defense would sack Wilson and prevent the Hawks from scoring a touchdown. Steven Hauschka put the Seahawks on the board with an easy 32 yard chip shot, so with 5:47 left in the 2nd quarter the Hawks were at least on the board but they needed to keep the Niners offense at bay.

The Seahawks D did just that, with a 3 and out and so with 4:20 left the Hawks had a shot to go down the field and tie the game before the half ended. It didn't happen, Pete Carroll's team had converted two 3rd downs but failed the third. So Carroll decided to go for it on 4th down........that did not work. After Kaepernick took a knee to end the first half the Seahawks and 12th Man were 30 minutes away from losing at home and having their Super Bowl hopes crushed.

Macklemore preformed at halftime and decided to pump up both the 12th Man and the Seahawks.......and I think it worked. The Niners first offensive drive was shut down by the Seahawks and so the Niners punted it to begin the second half. Lynch started the Seahawks first second half drive with an 11 and 5 yard runs. After a 4 yard gain on a pass to Baldwin Marshawn Lynch made the 12th Man erupt!

  "Wilson turns hands to Lynch, finds room first down and more! INSIDE THE 30, THE 25, 20 HE'S ON THE MOVE BEAST MODE 10, 5.......HE IS IN!!!! TOUCHDOOOWN SEAHAWKS!!!" as Steve Raible called what is now called the Beast Quake 3.0 as Lynch took off for 40 yards to help his team tie the game at 10-10.

The excitement didn't last long, as the Niners put together a 6 play drive that ended with Kaepernick throwing a bullet pass to Anquan Boldin that just missed being tipped by All-Pro Earl Thomas. So the 49ers regained the lead in the game but that wouldn't stop the Seahawks from putting their own scoring drive. Hauschka kicked his second field goal of the game, so the Hawks were still in the game down by 4.

The defense though would help out once again as the Niners went 3 and out and on the Seahawks ensuing drive the 3rd quarter ended but on the second play of the 4th, on one gutsy call by Pete Carroll, Russell Wilson was able to force an offsides on the Niners and on the free play threw a 35 yard touchdown pass to UW alumni Jermaine Kearse to put the Seahawks up by 3. The Seahawks defense came up big time on the following possession by the Niners as Kaepernick was sacked by Cliff Avril and forced a fumble that was recovered by Michael Bennett.

Though the Seahawks didn't score on turnover. Carroll last year went for a 4th and 1 instead of kicking the field goal and he said "I will never do that again", well he ate his own words as he went for a 4th and goal on the 1 yard line but Lynch fumbled the ball and so the Niners took over on downs.

It only took two plays and the Seahawks regained possession of the football as Kam Chancellor intercepted Kaepernick on the the San Francisco 40. Hauschka would be called on to kick his third field goal of the game to give the Seahawks the 23-17 lead. That field goal was thanks to a Doug Baldwin 69 yard kick return to put the Seahawks into Niner territory.

So here it is, 3:37 left in the 4th, San Francisco's last attempt to win the game. Like last year in the Super Bowl, Kaepernick lead his team down to their own red zone and just like last year he would go for one more try with Michael Crabtree. Kaepernick went up to basically the exact same spot in last year's Super Bowl but this time Richard Sherman the All-Pro cornerback tipped the ball up and Malcolm Smith came down with it to end Kaepernick's dream's of returning to the Super Bowl. Russell Wilson would then take three knees to end the game and make it sleepless in Seattle.

For the second time the Seahawks are NFC Champions but this time the Seahawks will look to have a different outcome in the Super Bowl. In two weeks the Seattle Seahawks will look to shut up the doubters, the experts, and the entire media that doubted them and will look to hoist their first Lombardi Trophy in the team's history and bring the first national sport championship (I dont count WNBA) to Seattle since the 1979 Seattle SuperSonics!

NOTES: Doug Baldwin became just the 6th player in NFL history to have 100+ receiving and kick return yards in a game.

GO HAWKS!!!