“I wouldn’t change it, I think it was the right thing,” Darrell Bevell once said about the most infamous play call in Super Bowl history. But nearly a decade later, Marshawn Lynch’s bombshell revelation has turned that assertion on its head, leaving Seahawks fans wondering if they’ve been fed a carefully crafted fairy tale all these years.

In a recent episode of the “Politickin” podcast, Lynch unleashed a verbal tirade, shattering the silence surrounding that fateful February night in 2015. “Bevell made the motherf**king calls and Pete did not get to it quick enough to get out to that motherf**ka,” Lynch declared, his words as powerful as any run he ever made. “That’s what he [Pete] told you in a nutshell.” This jaw-dropping disclosure rips the scab off a wound that never truly healed for the 12th Man. It paints a picture of chaos on the sidelines, with offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell calling the shots and Carroll unable to intervene in time. The laughter that followed Carroll’s non-denial during the podcast only adds salt to an injury that’s plagued for nearly ten years.

To put it in perspective, let’s return to the decisive moment. With 26 seconds to go, the Seahawks found themselves on the Patriots’ one-yard line down by 28 to 24. Instead of giving the ball to Lynch who had ousted 104 yards out on the New England defense, the Seahawks decided to throw the ball. The rest, as they say, is heart-wrenched history.

Carroll was the man who took the blows in the very first instance. “Unfortunately, the play goes the other way,” he told the press, per the reporter from USA Today. “There’s really nobody to blame but me, and I told them that clearly.” But this recent revealing detail by Lynch means something else–inefficient communication and failure to put down chances cost Seattle the chance to win back-to-back titles.

It is also of interest to note that it was after the game, that Bevell himself faced up and began to point fingers or rather lay the blame on members of the receiver corps receiver Ricardo Lockette, stating, “We could have done a better job staying strong on the ball.”. This blame game did not earn many admirers inside the team. Nevertheless, the impact of that call reverberates even today in the Seahawks locker room.

How Pete Carroll’s decision still haunts the Russell Wilson Seahawks’ legacy

The repercussions of that single-play call have echoed through the ages as if we had constant football tinnitus to their extent for years. It’s clouded careers, changed storylines, and had fans cursing “what if” for close to a decade ’til this present day. Bruce Irvin, linebacker for the Seattle Seahawks at the time, summarized players’ collective emotions “I don’t understand how you don’t give it to the best back in the league. We were on the half-yard line and we throw a slant. I don’t know what the offense had going on,” as per USA Today quotes in 2015.

That attitude was not isolated. Doug Baldwin, one of the Seattle Seahawks’ top receivers, stated, “We all were surprised. We still had a timeout and felt we should take a shot. I don’t know, man. I’m just trying to make up an explanation.”The aftermath was solely not psychological–it affected how the team went on thereafter. The eye of the storm, the quarterback Russell Wilson, would go on to relocate to Denver in 2022. As of September 2024, Wilson is one of four designated captains at the Steelers, far from the absence of any significance at the Seattle sideline that took an unexpected turn once and for all courtesy of the abnormal throw.

Still, even after many years, the wound has not yet fully healed. In a 2023 interview, Carroll looked back on the incident with former Seahawk Richard Sherman. “That play just happened. It wasn’t like by design, it wasn’t — there was no agenda,” argued Carroll. But after Lynch’s recent revelations, this might not be the case, or at least not as simple as Carroll is ready to let on.

Carroll’s rationale for the call has evolved. In 2022, he explained to Seattle Sports 710, “I fought for the logic of that for a good while until it wasn’t meaningful anymore to stick with that.” Given Lynch’s statement, this is quite a different perspective. As we approach the tenth anniversary of that fateful night, Lynch’s candor serves as a reminder that in the NFL, legacies are built and broken in the blink of an eye – or in this case, in the split second it takes for a pass to be intercepted at the goal line. For Seahawks fans, it’s a bitter pill to swallow, but one that might finally bring some closure to a decade of “what ifs” and “if onlys.”

The KISS principle (Keep it Simple, Stupid) was indeed kissed goodbye that night. As one commentator put it, it was the “Worst. Call. Ever.” And now, thanks to Lynch, we might finally understand why.