Super Bowl defeat will test Seahawks’ resolve during this offseason

GLENDALE, Ariz. – The defining take on Slantgate was in fact an instant reaction on Twitter, the contemporary Supreme Court of sport.

Among the 114 million disbelieving viewers of Super Bowl XLIX on television was Vince Mayle, recently of the Washington State Cougars and the receiver of approximately half of the 78,000 passes Connor Halliday threw for maestro of the airwaves Mike Leach this past season.

“Even coach Leach running the ball that close!” Mayle tweeted.

And there you have it. End of discussion.

But of course it wasn’t.

Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll’s decision to pass instead of run on the goal line in the final ticks against New England – taking the ball out of the hands of the most fearsome beast in the game and instead throwing it up for grabs – continues to be mocked and meme-ed.

By the morning after Seattle’s gut-punch loss, a few contrarian views backing Carroll – or at least absolving him of temporary insanity – had emerged from the analytics crowd, all reasonable and mathematically sound and worth consideration and, well, wrong. And Carroll’s faith remained unswayed.

“We believe in ourselves,” he said Monday.

But in the instants after the crushing 28-24 defeat when the Patriots’ Malcolm Butler intercepted Russell Wilson and the Seahawks snatched defeat from the diamond crust of another Super Bowl ring, it was pretty clear that belief had been shaken. The reactions of a few Seattle players said as much – and when they didn’t, others did.

“Man, what were they thinking?” said New England cornerback Brandon Browner, one of Carroll’s guys until last season. “Sometimes people out-strategize themselves.”

Carroll and his offensive lieutenant, Darrell Bevell, didn’t accept that, even as they owned the call. Or pretty much owned it. At one point, Bevell offered that receiver Ricardo Lockette “could have done a better job of staying strong to the ball,” a nudge toward the bus wheels if ever there was one. It was an imperfectly run route, yes – called for the team’s least trustworthy receiver. Whose fault is that?

But beginning today, there are bigger issues for Carroll, who insisted, “in the long run, it will make us grow stronger.”

That’s a good approach to take. Pulling it off is another matter.

As much as the Seahawks cleave to Carroll’s ways for the amount of personal identity he encourages amid the context of “always compete,” this is really the first instance of fallibility that’s been revealed in the franchise’s climb under his watch.

Yes, the Seahawks have lost games before, and even earlier this season looked to be unraveling in their title defense. The Percy Harvin business was an oopsy. He recovered by cutting Harvin loose and reclaimed hearts with an affirming team meeting.

But for this, there’s no simple undo.

He has a loud, opinionated, willful locker room. A legacy game turned on a call that probably half of them, at least, privately question. Seattle’s Super Bowl victory a year ago unburdened Carroll of previous failures in coaching stops with the Patriots and Jets. This doesn’t put him back to square one, but he won’t be catching any breaks – even from his own guys.

What’s more, Seattle’s patina of defensive invincibility has been stripped away. Even after the Seahawks seemingly took control with a 10-point lead, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady simply had his way.

Injuries to nickel back Jeremy Lane and pass rusher Cliff Avril were significant. Likewise, that Legion of Boomsters Richard Sherman, Kam Chancellor and Earl Thomas all played with injuries that will require surgery – Tommy John elbow work for Sherman – speaks to their will, but also that they’re not indomitable.

“One of the things we take pride in is playing until the finish,” said defensive coordinator Dan Quinn, now off to be head coach at Atlanta. “So we had the lead and for them to come back on us, that’s hard to accept.”

Now there are contract matters to sort out. A big raise for Wilson, linebacker Bobby Wagner and possibly Marshawn Lynch, with whom the club has opened negotiations when it once seemed they were on a path to part. But really, who can predict Lynch’s inclinations, especially when he wasn’t even a decoy on the playthat decided the Super Bowl.

All in all, not an inconsiderable repair job of psyches, morale and trust. And not impossible, either.

“My mom always says ‘Find value in the valley,’ ” said wide receiver Doug Baldwin. “This is definitely going to be the valley for us at this point. We are going to find value in it, find what we can learn from it and what we can improve on and we are going to move forward. If we handle it correctly and we stick together, this is going to make us stronger down the line.”

End of discussion.

But of course, it isn’t.