It’s easy to forget but at the time of Pete Carroll’s firing, some were critical of the decision. Like many of you, I watched and read anything and everything about the Seahawks in the aftermath of that franchise changing move. There were fans who did not support change. Some wanted Carroll to have another year.

There were plenty of others who were also absolutely ready to move on, myself included.

This isn’t meant to read as some ‘told you so’, thumbing of one’s nose. Rather it’s just writing out of relief and satisfaction.

For way too long the Seahawks plonked themselves between good and bad. They were never so bad that ownership’s hand was forced, with a majority of the fan base calling for action. Neither were they truly good enough, not for coming up to nearly a decade now, to ever feel like they were a serious playoff threat.

Carroll’s positives — players seemed to like playing for him, they rarely gave up, he was clearly very popular within the franchise and united everyone, he was experienced, had won it all and he had skill as a motivator — were evident. There were other strengths too, obviously. Yet increasingly the negatives began to outweigh them.

We talked about it so much. The coaching staff wasn’t good enough. It was a mix of Carroll’s ‘guys’, family members and people not up to the task. There was a distinct lack of attention to detail, highlighted by basic fundamentals such as tackling and run defense becoming so tragically poor. The identity that Carroll preached relentlessly was nowhere to be seen, with the roster seemingly being built in a way that contradicted the chosen path.

At a time when the league was leaning more into deception, creativity and multiplicity, the Seahawks felt behind the times. Their recent records against Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVay are proof. Yet it wasn’t just the results against San Francisco and LA. The Thanksgiving hammering to the 49ers last season was a pitiful effort. The throwing away of the Rams road game was equally embarrassing. Let’s also not forget how handily LA beat Seattle in week one.

This wasn’t fun any more. It was stale, limp and going through the motions. The years were passing by. I’m 40 now. How did that happen? I wasn’t even in my 30’s when Seattle won the Super Bowl. Time was flying by and, honestly, being wasted.

The Seahawks weren’t ‘one more year’ away under Carroll. They had to face the reality that they weren’t going anywhere with him at the helm. That might be hard for some to accept, even now. The franchise was an expensive car stuck in the mud, spinning its wheels. Shanahan and McVay were watching on from their sports cars, chuckling and racing off into the distance, each with a babe in the passenger seat with the sun beating down on their excellent hair lines.

It’s only one pre-season game. However, when I was sat in my hotel room in Vancouver watching on a crap wifi-signal for a glimpse of Mike Macdonald’s debut as a Head Coach, it was such a bloody relief. It was enjoyable. Any Seahawks fan had to have a spring in their step after watching that.

They can tackle again! They know how to play with physicality. An edge was set! Defenders were flying to the football. The offense sufficiently used check-downs to make easy, beneficial gains. They converted third downs. Everything felt controlled, purposeful and within structure. This was without any of the trickery or deception that is inevitably coming to strangle regular season opponents. This was vanilla football done properly. Who knew you could take so much enjoyment from watching a team just doing the basics well?

Let’s also not forget that this was Jim Harbaugh’s first game in control of the Chargers. You’d expect they, too, would want to show some grit and angst at the start of a new era. We all know how Harbaugh’s teams compete. Yet the Seahawks blew them away. The final score hugely flattered LA.

There were no histrionics. Macdonald’s assessment was pretty much ‘some good, some bad’. I like that. He’s an unspectacular listen at press conferences but in a good way. There’s no fluff. I was ready for that. Weren’t you?

The best thing of all though is seeing players who we know have talent and potential starting to flash. Byron Murphy, Boye Mafe and Derick Hall — all high draft picks — looked excellent. What a boon it’d be if all three formed the future of Seattle’s pass rush. Tariq Woolen appears renewed under this staff. The linebackers all flew to the ball and were forceful.

Now imagine what they can do for DK Metcalf, Jaxson Smith-Njigba, Ken Walker, Charles Cross, Noah Fant and others on a very talented, underachieving (previously) offense. Leonard Williams could easily have a career year in the scheme that delivered such an achievement for Justin Madubuike. Meanwhile the addition of Connor Williams has the potential to be the most inspiring summer signing of 2024.

Adding to this is the thought that the Seahawks just look like a team, once again, who you think, ‘christ — I wouldn’t want to play them’. I miss the days of opponents dreading Lumen Field and often losing their following game after being battered and bruised in the PNW. It’d be great to see that return.

The stench of that powder-puff Pittsburgh home loss needs to be cleansed with a 2024 season of hitting, tackling and brutality. That could easily become a reality with this staff.

Listening to the different coaches, they all appear sharp and driven. There’s a far greater edge to everything these days it seems. You can see it on the field too. There are also new ideas. Carroll always brushed off the idea of doing a joint practise with another team, while the rest of the league increasingly indulged. This week the Seahawks travel to Nashville to face the Titans in a week of competitive practising — almost certainly a useful scenario for both teams with new leadership. The old regime would never do this — but you better believe come week 10, when the defense had fallen off a cliff and questions were asked online about what they actually did in camp to deliver solid fundamentals and address multi-year issues, we’d get the same token response of needing to find a way to fix things, with no further pressing as to why any of the problems were never actually fixed.

When Carroll and John Schneider arrived in Seattle, there was talk of emulating the big two in the AFC North — Pittsburgh and Baltimore. They achieved it and then some, before things fell away courtesy of one turning point on the one-yard-line. Now it seems the franchise is back on track, thanks to an inspired appointment from that very same AFC North division.

It’s fun being a Seahawks fan again. I’m looking forward to a pre-season game this weekend. I think everyone is.

Imagine that?