Mike Vorel: Dominant Seahawks show they're here to stay

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — The celebration started long before the Super Bowl did.

At noon Sunday, Seattle Seahawks fans stood on a makeshift pirate ship, sponsored by a random rum company, in a lot just east of Levi’s Stadium. More waved bright green rally towels and started “SEA-HAWKS” chants in a long line for the bar. They wore blue jerseys, matching face paint and gaudy green wigs. They hung off the railings of a parked streetcar, posing for pictures and basking in the 60-degree sun.

Above, a small plane circled purposefully, repeatedly, perhaps prophetically, towing a blue 12 flag through the Santa Clara sky.

It was as if they all knew exactly what was coming.

Or rather, who was here.

No, not the smattering of celebrities who attended Seattle’s 29-13 trouncing — Beyoncé, Jay Z, Roger Federer, Adam Sandler, Travis Scott, etc. Not Puerto Rican pop sensation Bad Bunny, who fell theatrically through an artificial ceiling during his halftime show. Not even former Super Bowl combatants Russell Wilson and Malcolm Butler, who shared a stadium 11 years after the infamous interception.

The ceiling also fell out on the New England Patriots on Sunday.

But don’t blame overmatched quarterback Drake Maye, a New England defense that held on for a half or a schedule that partially propped up the Patriots.

Seattle’s defense dropped anvils on that ceiling until the foundation folded.

With their legacy on the line, the Seahawks made a statement in Super Bowl LX. The Legion of Boom passed the baton. “The Dark Side” arrived.

“We wanted to prove to everybody that we’re the best in the world, and we are,” Seahawks defensive tackle Byron Murphy II said, with a smile displaying bedazzled silver grills. “We showed that tonight. We showed it all season long. You’ve got to give credit where it’s due. We just want our respect.”

They earned respect with merciless monotony. With two Derick Hall sacks, the second forcing a fumble that Murphy fell on. With two more sacks from Murphy and another from chaotic cornerback Devon Witherspoon. With rugged run stuffs from defensive linemen Leonard Williams and Jarran Reed and open-field tackles from cornerback Josh Jobe, defensive back Nick Emmanwori and linebacker Ernest Jones IV. With a Julian Love interception and a Uchenna Nwosu pick six, a pair of emphatic exclamation points.

On this defense, the exclamation points and anvils are everywhere.

And though “complementary football” is a cliché, the Seahawks just won in every possible way. Super Bowl MVP Kenneth Walker III rumbled for 135 yards and five yards per carry, also adding two catches for 26 yards. Jason Myers set a Super Bowl record with five field goals. Michael Dickson landed a trio of punts inside the 10-yard line. Quarterback Sam Darnold, once destined to self-destruct, didn’t commit a turnover for a fourth consecutive game. Tight end AJ Barner snatched a 16-yard score. This was a cold, comprehensive clobbering.

“When I won a national championship at Michigan, I told my family I was going to be a Super Bowl champ and be a reason why we did it,” Barner said. “To have that come through today was really special.”

Added Hall, who hauled an opposite history: “I’ve been playing football since the age of four. No high school state championship. No college SEC championship or national championship. It all led to this moment. This is surreal.”

Surreal, and some may say boring. Perhaps that’s the point. It was a slow-motion stroll toward immortality. It was punishingly predictable; the Seahawks made it so.

“We climbed the death zone,” said rookie defensive lineman Rylie Mills, who trucked 310-pound guard Garrett Wilson into Maye for an unforgettable first career sack. “We’re at the top of the mountain, and it’s (expletive) awesome.”

This was not a game. It was an anointing. The celebration started early, and it never really stopped.

When it ended, blue and green confetti fell — and rose, strangely. Some of it seemed to levitate, caught in a swirling wind, leaving Levi’s Stadium altogether, maybe embarking on an 800-mile trip to Seattle.

In the locker room, said celebration smelled like cigar smoke, which wafted out of the double doors before they ever opened. It looked like a mosh of delirious, dancing Seahawks in the middle of the room, while others took photos with the Lombardi Trophy. It looked like ski goggles with “SUPER BOWL LX” etched across the lenses, gold Champagne bottles, teammates Jake Bobo and Drake Thomas shot-gunning increasingly endangered cans of Coors Light. Like Nwosu wearing a Nigerian flag across his shoulders, and 33-year-old defensive end DeMarcus “Tank” Lawrence wearing tiny tank earrings for his first Super Bowl. Like linebacker Ernest Jones IV dangling a Rams 2022 Super Bowl ring from his finger, while he waits to welcome its baby brother.

Another ring is on the way.

Who knows? Maybe more.

“With this league, we’re on the clock now,” said Barner, who finished with four catches for 54 yards and a touchdown. “Everybody wants what we got. So we’re going to enjoy it, but we’re going to protect it.”

The protecting is for a different day. But with a 38-year-old wunderkind coach, an award-winning general manager, a vindicated quarterback and the NFL’s third-youngest roster, this doesn’t feel like the end of anything. The 12 flag may fly in perpetuity. This confetti may continue to rise.

If the season were a football field, the Seahawks entered Sunday on New England’s 1-yard line. Where they have — sorry, had — a haunted history. Only this time, they finished it in the end zone.

“The Dark Side” is here. It ain’t going anywhere.

The celebration(s) won’t stop any time soon.

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