Seattle Seahawks · Franchise era 1 of 6
The expansion Seahawks: the Seattle Seahawks story
Franchise era
1976—1982
The expansion Seahawks
Seattle Seahawks
The story in one sentence
Seattle switched conferences after one season and quickly built a creative passing game that made the Kingdome an energetic home.
Zorn and Largent make the new team entertaining
Steve Largent, Jim Zorn and Dave Brown gave the era its recognizable core.
Its ending created the conditions for the chuck knox years.
Timeline
How it unfolded
The foundation
The franchise context
Seattle grew from expansion novelty into an AFC contender, reached its first Super Bowl under Mike Holmgren and then built the Legion of Boom champion that gave the Pacific Northwest its defining NFL team.
1976—1982
The expansion Seahawks
Seattle switched conferences after one season and quickly built a creative passing game that made the Kingdome an energetic home.
After 1982
What came next
Knox's physical style produced the franchise's first playoffs and a 1983 run to the AFC Championship Game before years of ownership uncertainty.
The core