by Andrew Harris

Now that the four month slog that was the NFL regular season is squarely in the rear view, the Seahawks can get on with the business of truly defending their status as Super Bowl Champs.

Hard to fathom that only a few weeks ago, after a road loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, sports pundits (aka: Hawks’ haters) were salivating at the prospect of writing the obituary for the defending champions.

Oh, what a difference a six game winning streak to end the season makes.  After jettisoning the talented, but malcontent, Percy Harvin off to the Jets early in the season that caused offensive struggles, and weathering a litany of injuries to their defense that resulted in sub-par efforts,  the Seahawks find themselves beginning the playoffs from the same lofty perch they occupied last year; the one that overlooks every other team in the NFC as the top seed in the conference.

The Hawks road back to the Super Bowl starts late this afternoon against the Carolina Panthers. The Panthers entered into the playoffs as the only team with a losing record and had to rely on a slew of lucky breaks in order to beat an opponent who set an NFL record for offensive futility. Look for that luck to run out today against a defense that hasn’t allowed an opponent to score over 14 points in the last six games.

Prediction:  Seahawks 27 – Panthers 9