Pete Carroll says he wouldn't have changed the play call that ultimately lost the Seattle Seahawks the Super Bowl. The quarterback threw the pass wouldn't, either. And neither would the man who threw the pass.
“That play we called will always be there to drive me," Bevell told Peter King of MMQB. "I wouldn’t change it, I think it was the right thing. Coach Carroll has done a great job with it as well. I think to answer your question, in terms of totally moving on, that night is rough, the next morning is rough, getting on the plane is rough, but as soon as I got here and I was able to watch it for myself on the tape and see our copy and look at it that way and do the analyzing of it, once that was over I was able to put it behind me. I’m okay. I really am.”
Before you criticize him and use your mind's eye memory to say Seattle clearly should have run the ball on that second-and-goal from the one, consider that the three coaches and two quarterbacks King anonymously polled agreed unanimously they wouldn't have run the ball against New England's personnel, either.
Then look at what Russell Wilson saw as his brain gave his arm permission to throw that fateful pass and truly evaluate whether it was a bad play call.
But, it doesn't matter. The call was made, the pass thrown, the champagne-soaked celebration ruined by Malcolm Butler. There's nothing anyone can do to change that now.
“It’s never going to leave you," Bevell said. "I can think back to when I was playing quarterback and there are plays that still eat me in my gut from when I was playing. The ones that usually eat you are the bad plays, not the Big Ten Championships. It’s those other plays that you think back to that eat you in the gut."
Every coach has their list of calls that stick with them, the ones that follow them around during the day and speak to them at night. It's part of the job. And just as every coach can sympathize with Bevell's situation - though on a much smaller scale - each coach can learn from how he and his organization have handled it.