National Football League

Anatomy of a comeback: Big plays send Seahawks to Super Bowl

Published Jan. 18, 2015 6:33 p.m. ET

Sid Saraf

Talk about high drama.

The Seattle Seahawks took down the Green Bay Packers 28-22 in overtime on Sunday to reach their second consecutive Super Bowl. But it was how it was done that will have the NFL world buzzing for the foreseeable future.

The Packers came out strong, taking advantage of several Seahawks errors — including Russell Wilson's inexplicable four interceptions — and had a 19-7 lead with just less than four minutes left in the fourth quarter. Things were looking bleak, at best. However, Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch didn't look stressed:

As it turns out, for good reason. The Seahawks closed the gap to four points when Wilson scored on a 1-yard run with 2:09 left.

With just one timeout remaining, the Seahawks were forced to go for an onside kick. That's when disaster struck for Green Bay:

Miraculously, the Seahawks recovered. CenturyLink Field was rocking as Wilson went back to work. After two nice gains, Lynch broke free on the left side of the field and 24 yards later reached the end zone.

Somehow, despite wretched play for three quarters, Seattle now had the lead and elected to go for the two-point conversion.

If you watch this play 100 times, you still won't understand how Packers safety Ha Ha Clinton-Dix didn't make a play on the ball. The Seahawks were now up by three points, which proved crucial as Aaron Rodgers led the Packers down the field. With less than 30 seconds left, Mason Crosby came up huge by nailing a 48-yard field goal to send the game into overtime.

The Seahawks won the toss and on the sixth play of their first drive of overtime, the miracle comeback was complete.