Flashback Friday: A look back at the Seahawks ‘Beast Quake’ game
This weekend officially kicks off Wild Card Weekend for the NFL Playoffs. As the name certainly suggests, this is a weekend known for some of the most memorable games and wild moments for the postseason.
It seems just about every team in the NFL has at least one iconic moment stemming from this weekend, and the Seattle Seahawks are no different. Arguably one of the single greatest plays in Seattle sports history happened on this weekend.
In fact, it happened exactly one decade ago to the day.
I’m talking about Marshawn Lynch’s legendary “Beast Quake” run which shook the Pacific Northwest, and the entire NFL landscape on January 8th, 2011.
Exactly a decade ago today, Marshawn Lynch caused a Beast Quake.
One of the most memorable runs in NFL history. pic.twitter.com/VBb8Lc0yGW
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) January 8, 2021
In a season where the 7-9 Washington Football Team is currently in the postseason, it seems fitting we remember the first sub-.500 team to make the playoffs.
The 2010 Seahawks became the first team to qualify for the playoffs with a losing record. Similarly to Washington, the Seahawks had to win a “Sunday Night Football” game to determine the division winner. Ironically, the Seahawks had to beat the Rams, who are their wild-card opponent this weekend.
The Seahawks were set to host the reigning Super Bowl Champions, the New Orleans Saints at 11-5. The Saints quickly built a 17-7 first-half lead, but Seattle fought back and went into halftime up 24-20, eventually going up 31-20. New Orleans started to make a comeback of its own until Marshawn Lynch had something to say about it.
Nursing a 34-30 lead with less than four minutes to play, on a 2nd-and-10 call, Lynch bulldozed his way through the entire Saints defense to essentially seal the eventual 41-36 monumental upset for the Seahawks.
Lynch’s run hyped the 12th Man up so much their cheers actually registered on a local Seattle seismograph as a small tremor.
The earth-moving “Beast Quake” helped kickstart the most successful decade of Seahawks football in franchise history. Lynch went on to establish himself as one of the NFL’s premier backs, and Seattle became a perennial Super Bowl contender.
Speaking of the Super Bowl, the Seahawks will look to make yet another run starting on Saturday as they host the Los Angeles Rams on Wild Card Weekend.
