Are the Seahawks the greatest defense in NFL history? (Video)

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Rx. Senior
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With the pain and misery of the Packers' NFC Championship collapse fading in the distance, we can now turn our attention to one of the marquee elements of this year's Super Bowl: the Seattle Seahawks defense. Led by the Legion of Boom secondary, the Seahawks were the top-ranked defense in the NFL this year, but how do they stack up against great Ds of the past? Do the Seahawks even have a prayer against the '85 Bears, the Steel Curtain, or the 2000-era Ravens?

Yahoo Sports' Kevin Kaduk (@kevinkaduk) and Jay Busbee (@jaybusbee) kick around the topic right here, and you can join in. This is another one of our many Super Bowl Arguments videos, and you're invited to the party. (We also debated whether or not Tom Brady needs to win Super Bowl XLIX to cement his legacy. That clip can be seen here.) Offer up your thoughts in the comments below and on Twitter at #SBarguments. Your words might end up on a future episode. Get to arguing!
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-sh...192753055.html
 

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85 Bears are bad ass......They knocked 7 different QB`s out of the game that season....LMAO
 

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No
 

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A pretty strong arguement can be made for the Seahawks. The 85 Bears held teams to an avg of 11.4 vs 14.2 for the 13 seahawks. 1985 the league averaged 15 ppg vs 27 ppg in 2013.
 

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The Steel Curtain were pretty good also.

Seahawks deserve lots of credit though.
 

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85 Bears, 2000 Ravens, various Steel Curtains, and 1969 Chiefs were the best. Seattle and 2002 Bucs right there next.
 

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2000 Ravens good call.....I forgot about them
 

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Greatest ever? that is a big NO. Top 10 ever? Yes, Top 5... maybe.
Its hard to keep players long term these days. Having a good defense for 3+ years in a row is not common. Lots of teams have a great 1-2 year stands
 

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what about the '72 Fins? I was not around then to know but looking at the scores they didnt give up much. Where they in with the all time greats talk?
 
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How hard would it be to be a great defense in the 70's. No one threw the ball and u could beat the hell out of someone and a flag wouldn't be thrown.
 
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and it is all Russell Wilson. No defense, no Marshawn Lynch, no problem.

If we talk of seattle as a great all time defense, what exactly seperates him from Brad Johnson or Trent Dilfer?
 

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85 Bears, 2000 Ravens, various Steel Curtains, and 1969 Chiefs were the best. Seattle and 2002 Bucs right there next.

I like the list but Bucs probably 2nd on it instead of last.

Another question is are we talking one single year or one era.

Because if we're talking an era of the same defense with mostly the same core of players, then that Bucs defense is #1 on the list because it was so dominant for so many years...
 

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That '00 Ravens defense was something else. They may have scored more than the offense that year and carried that team to a Super Bowl.
 

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To answer the question: no, and it isn't even debatable.

To put this in perspective, the 1976 Steelers gave up 9 passing touchdowns and had 22 INT's. They gave up 138 total points, held 7 of 8 straight opponents to 10 points or less, had 5 shutouts, including 3 shoutouts in a row. 25 straight quarters with no TD's allowed. Allowed only 2 TD's in the last 10 games.

PS: The 2000 Ravens played 8 games against bottom half NFL offenses
 

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