The Seahawks nearly capped an improbable comeback on Sunday afternoon against the Panthers, but saw their incredible run come to an end when Panthers linebacker Thomas Davis swallowed up an onside kick with 1:11 to play.
Davis' play prevented Seattle from reaching the Super Bowl for the third consecutive year; something no team has done since the creation of salary-cap rules back in the early 1990s. And because of that, it almost made the postgame heartache a little easier to stomach.
"We're far from done," Richard Sherman said Sunday, via ESPN.com. "Guys are just entering the prime of their careers. We can be special for a long time."
He added: "I think people get confused sometimes and think our quarterback is 38. He's 26 or 27, not 38. Bobby Wagner is 25. We've got a young core. I think people have been astounded by what we've been able to do with our young core."
While I would challenge Sherman to actually find someone that thought Russell Wilson was 38, he's right in his measured approach to Sunday's loss.
The Seahawks have already weathered the hardest part of being a modern day football dynasty: Identifying the players who are worth keeping and cutting loose the ones who will soak up too much of the remaining cap space. Considering that they bounced back from an abysmal start, we know the leadership is still somewhat intact and the locker room hasn't caved in despite their success.