So says Clark Judge, anyway, who reminds us that if San Diego hadn’t been so adamant about staying in the AFC West, the Seahawks might not be in the Super Bowl right now.
(The Chargers) were one of the original members of the AFC West. Seattle was not. In fact, Seattle wasn’t one of the original members of the AFC. When the Seahawks joined the league in 1976 as an expansion franchise, they joined as a member of the NFC. OK, so it was for only a year. But San Diego’s point resonated with the league.
Rivalries were more important to the Chargers because they’d been involved in them longer — almost two decades longer (think AFL). And they weren’t interested in jumping into a division with St. Louis, San Francisco and Arizona (which switched divisions in 2002) — no matter what the competitive advantages might be…
So San Diego stayed in a division where it was 9-7 and the third-best team this season. Seattle moved to a division where it was the only winning member and where it won 12 of its last 13, including all six this year.
The funny thing about this, though, is that both teams were playoff teams last year, yet San Diego had arguably the toughest schedule in the NFL this season, while the Seahawks had one of the easiest:
Seattle played only five opponents this year with a winning record and played the softest schedule out there — with opponents combining for a .430 winning percentage.
Makes you wonder if the Gonzaga factor will come into play. Every year, Gonzaga’s college hoops team breezes through a weak conference schedule, and it comes back to bite them in the ass every year in the NCAA tournament. I never pick Gonzaga to make the Final Four because of this. Perhaps that’s one reason why so few people are picking the Seahawks in this Super Bowl…
