Photos: 15 moments that define the Seattle Seahawks

The Seahawks joined the NFL in 1976, along with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and played their first game on Sept. 12, 1976, in the Kingdome. The stadium would eventually be shared with Major League Baseball’s Mariners and the NBA’s Supersonics. The Seahawks played their first season in the NFC West before being moved into the AFC West the following season. John Prieto/Denver Post/Getty Images

The team won just two games in its debut season, but unheralded wide receiver Steve Largent (left) and undrafted quarterback Jim Zorn (right) showed flashes of the excitement they would bring to the Pacific Northwest. Zorn's knack for scrambling out of trouble and trick plays prompted announcer Howard Cosell to exclaim, “The Seahawks are giving the nation a lesson in entertaining football” during the Seahawks' first "Monday Night Football" appearance in 1979. Focus on Sports/Getty Images (2)

Head coach Chuck Knox (pictured) replaced original coach Jack Patera after a string of losses in the strike-shortened 1982 season. Knox immediately led the team to its first playoff appearance. Dave Krieg, another undrafted quarterback who’d spent two and a half seasons backing up Zorn, was named the starter midway through the season. The team fell a game short of the Super Bowl, losing to the Los Angeles Raiders in the AFC Championship Game, 30–14. AP

On Dec. 15, 1984, the Seahawks formally retired jersey No. 12 in honor of their fans, who had quickly established a reputation for filling their indoor stadium with noise said to affect the visiting team so much that it was like having a 12th player. It was the first number retired in franchise history, and Seattle is the only NFL franchise to have retired a number for a nonplayer. Al Messerschmidt/Getty Images

Before the 1987 season, Seattle picked linebacker Brian Bosworth from Oklahoma University in the supplemental draft. Highly touted and the creator of his own hype machine, “The Boz,” with his radical haircut and trash talk, became best known for getting steamrolled into the end zone on “Monday Night Football” by Raiders rookie running back Bo Jackson. The play could, in retrospect, be seen as an omen for the decade to come. Bernstein Associates/Getty Images

In 1988, California real estate developer Ken Behring (right) bought the team from the Nordstrom family and named former Raiders coach Tom Flores (left) as president and general manager. (l. to r.): George Rose/Getty Images; Jeff Haynes/AFP/Getty Images

In 1989, Largent — the only remaining player from the inaugural season — retired as the NFL’s all-time leading receiver in career receptions (819), receiving yards (13,089) and touchdown receptions (100). All of these records were broken, and are now held, by Jerry Rice. Duncan Livingston/AP

Behring announced in January 1996 he was moving the team to Anaheim, Calif., the former home of the Rams, and moved some of the team’s operations there. The NFL nixed the move and the league threatened to fine Behring $500,000 a day, prompting a hasty return to the Pacific Northwest. Billionaire Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen (pictured) became a hero among fans when he bought the team for $200 million in June 1997 after securing an agreement for a new stadium. Elaine Thompson/AP

After a few seasons of mediocrity, head coach Dennis Erickson was fired and Mike Holmgren (pictured, right), who had won a Super Bowl as the Green Bay Packers’ coach, was brought in as head coach and executive vice president/general manager in 1999. The Seahawks won the AFC West in Holmgren’s first season. Tami Tomsic/Getty Images

The Kingdome was demolished in 2000, and the team’s new stadium would be built on the same footprint in downtown Seattle, opening in 2002. The Seahawks played their home games at the University of Washington’s Husky Stadium for two seasons. Tim Matsui/Getty Images

The Seahawks moved into their new stadium, initially called Seahawks Stadium (now CenturyLink Field), and returned to the NFC West in 2002. After a pair of second-place finishes, Seattle won the division four consecutive years, and has won it six of the last 10 seasons. On Oct. 12, 2003, the team began a tradition of having former players, local celebrities and athletes raise the flag just before kickoff of every home game — the first raised by 12 original-season ticket holders. Otto Greule Jr./Getty Images

In 2005, the Seahawks put together their best season to date, with running back Shaun Alexander (right) named the league’s Most Valuable Player en route to the team’s first Super Bowl appearance. They lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers, 21–10, in a game marred by questionable officiating. Four years later, referee Bill Leavy apologized to the team, saying, “I kicked two calls in the fourth quarter and I impacted the game, and as an official you never want to do that.” Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images

Pete Carroll, left, took over as head coach in 2010, going 7–9 his first season to win the NFC West, the first time a team won its division with a losing record. Hosting the defending champion New Orleans Saints in the playoffs, running back Marshawn Lynch, right, cemented his “Beast Mode” reputation, breaking numerous tackles in a game-winning 67-yard touchdown run that became known as the "Beast Quake" after the crowd's reaction registered seismic activity at nearby monitoring stations. Otto Greule Jr. / Getty Images (2)

The team kicked off the 2013 season with lofty expectations with second-year quarterback Russell Wilson, above, and Lynch leading the offense and a stout defense, led by Richard Sherman and fellow All-Pros Earl Thomas and Kam Chancellor. The Seahawks ousted the rival 49ers in the NFC Championship Game in dramatic fashion, then shut down Peyton Manning and the top-ranked Denver Broncos offense in Super Bowl XLVIII, winning 43-8 and bringing the Lombardi Trophy to Seattle for the first time. Hyoung Chang / The Denver Post / Getty Images

Once considered the Siberia of the NFL, Seattle is suddenly making plenty of noise and living up to the talk. With Richard Sherman as the face of a stifling defense, the Seahawks became the first defending champion in a decade to return to the Super Bowl the following year. Their opponents Sunday, the New England Patriots, were the last team to do it and are the only ones standing in the way of a Seahawks repeat. Steve Dykes / Getty Images