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The Seahawks were crowned NFL champions on Sunday night in MetLife Stadium, but cornerback Richard Sherman said the coronation actually came two weeks earlier in Seattle.

Sherman was referring to the NFC Championship Game victory over the 49ers, a game that ended with Sherman’s much-discussed interview with Erin Andrews on the field and which Sherman says was this year’s real Super Bowl.

“The NFC Championship was the Super Bowl. The 49ers were the second-best team in the NFL,” Sherman said, via Robert Klemko of TheMMQB.com.

Sherman’s words might be a bit impolitic, Klemko writes that Sherman “hates to admit it,” but the Broncos didn’t present much of a counter-argument on Sunday in New Jersey. The Seahawks looked faster, stronger and better prepared than Denver, something that wasn’t nearly as clear cut in two of their three games against the 49ers this season.

Oddsmakers are predicting a similar look at the top of the NFL pyramid next season and we could see things play out the same way again if they’re correct about the league’s pecking order.