Steelers; Seahawks Left Standing

It won't be the most celebrated matchup in Super Bowl history and it won't send television executives over the moon.

But don't tell that to those now wildly exuberant football fans in the Pacific Northwest. The Seattle Seahawks are going to the Super Bowl for the first time in their 30-year, tear-soaked history. They're going to Detroit to face the Pittsburgh Steelers in the National Football League's championship game.

For a city that has given us coffee houses on every street corner and had precious little to celebrate in return, this is tantalizingly good; better even than the Mariners' failed trip to the World Series a few years ago. Granted, there's no guarantee the Seahawks will drop a beating on Pittsburgh, but given how they tore apart the Carolina Panthers yesterday, the 'Hawks are more than a legitimate contender. They proved that all season long and, man oh man, did they prove it in the National Football Conference title game at Qwest Field.

The Seahawks didn't just beat Carolina 34-14, they declawed the Panthers and rubbed their noses in kitty litter. All the ferocity that had pushed the Panthers to playoff road wins over the New York Giants and Chicago Bears disappeared in a rash of miscues and interceptions. Instead, it was all Seattle -- solid on offence, relentless on defence, well-coached and well-schooled, and now they're Super Bowl-bound.

Seattle versus Pittsburgh for the Vince Lombardi Trophy. Nothing sounds so good in these parts. Not even a weather forecast without rain.

What the Seahawks did in front of 67,837 howling fanatics was dominate from the opening kickoff to the final gun. On defence, Seattle took away Carolina's ground game, such as it was without running back DeShaun Foster. Then the Seahawks took away Carolina's emotional force, Steve Smith, who had one moment of glory, a 59-yard punt return for a touchdown. Other than that, Smith was a jumble of frustrated nerves. At one point in the first half, he was spotted yelling at the Carolina coaches.

"Some people think I'm getting upset when I'm not getting the ball," Smith said later. "I get upset when we're not moving the ball, when we're not as efficient as a unit."

The inefficiency came from the way the Seattle defence went after Carolina quarterback Jake Delhomme. Although he started the game with a reputation for postseason heroics, Delhomme was utterly ordinary on this day. Twice he was intercepted in the first half. On the first, he tried to connect with Smith when he was covered by four defenders.

"That was the difference," Seattle defensive lineman Rocky Bernard said, "our attitude and the crowd. The defence played with such hard confidence. We were more aggressive than they were."

Offensively, the Seahawks were just as methodical and just as thorough.

Running back Shaun Alexander, the NFL's most valuable player, showed no ill effects from the concussion he suffered a week earlier in the win over the Washington Redskins.

He had 80 yards and a touchdown by halftime. He finished with 132 yards. His running pushed the Panthers to the brink; Seattle quarterback Matt Hasselbeck pushed them over.

In the seventh year of a checkered NFL career, Hasselbeck showed just how much he has matured as a big-game performer.

This was the quarterback who once spent three years with the Green Bay Packers impressing no one, other than Mike Holmgren, now the Seahawks' head coach. This was the quarterback who coughed up an interception for the winning touchdown in his team's playoff loss to Green Bay last year.

But against Carolina, Hasselbeck completed a daring 28-yard pass to second-string quarterback Seneca Wallace before firing a 17-yard touchdown strike to tight end Jerramy Stevens. Just as important was how Hasselbeck managed the offence and the game.

"Matt's in control of this team," wide receiver Bobby Engram said. "He's making the right calls, finding the open receivers. It's his team. Look at what he did out there today."

Right after Smith's touchdown, Hasselbeck put together a time-consuming drive that ended with a field goal and a measure of superiority. Then he opened the second half with a touchdown toss to Darrell Jackson and the deal was sealed.

Seattle versus Pittsburgh in the Super Bowl. It's the biggest thing to hit this city since the Ichiro bobblehead doll.

There may be football fans wondering "just who are these Seattle guys?" And other than Alexander and maybe Hasselbeck, there are no big names to excite the universe. But if you're looking for a team that has grown into a well-disciplined, hard-nosed championship contender, this is that team. A team on the rise.

In this city, they're talking reign, not rain. And this time they believe it.