Hindsight is 20/20, but every NFL franchise has made regrettable decisions over the years they’d love to go back in time and remedy. In a five-part series, the Seahawk Maven staff will take a closer look at some of the biggest “What If?” scenarios in Seahawks history and investigate how things could’ve played out in an alternate universe.

Long before Russell Wilson started taking snaps under center (or, in fact, was even born) and the Seahawks won their first Super Bowl in 2013, the franchise tasted its first extended success in the mid-1980s under the leadership of coach Chuck Knox.

Failing to make the playoffs during their first seven seasons, Seattle finally broke through in 1983, clinching a wild card berth in the AFC for the first time and winning two playoff games, including a Divisional Round road upset over second-seeded Miami.

The Seahawks were outclassed by the Raiders in the AFC Championship game the following week, but with a young core loaded with stars such as receiver Steve Largent and safety Kenny Easley returning, the team looked poised to compete for Super Bowls in coming seasons.

Unfortunately, Knox’s squad never made it past the Divisional Round again during his tenure despite making the playoffs three more times and capturing the franchise’s first AFC West title during his final 10 seasons on the sidelines.

Looking back at Seattle’s inability to make a Super Bowl during the Knox era, could signing future Hall of Fame quarterback Warren Moon have proven to be the difference maker?

Though Moon was born and raised in Los Angeles and started his collegiate career at West Los Angeles College, he became a star as the starting quarterback at the University of Washington. After going 11-11 as a starter during his first two years on campus, he led the Huskies to a Pac-8 title and earned MVP honors during a Rose Bowl upset over heavily-favored Michigan.

Battling the prevailing stereotype black players weren’t capable of succeeding at quarterback, Moon went undrafted despite his collegiate success and wound up winning five Grey Cups in six seasons commanding the offense for the Edmonton Eskimos of the CFL.

Once the NFL finally came calling in 1984, multiple suitors pursued the 27-year old Moon. Among those who offered him a contract, the Seahawks worked tediously to sign him, and at one point, it looked like a last-ditch effort by team executives to convince him to stay in Seattle would pay off.

But with more guaranteed money on the table, a better opportunity at immediate playing time, and the presence of coach Hugh Campbell, who coached Moon in Canada, he opted to accept a five-year deal from the Oilers instead.

With Moon turning down Seattle’s offer, the Seahawks moved forward at quarterback with Dave Krieg, who led the team to a then-franchise record 12 regular season wins and earned a Pro Bowl nod in 1984. The team enacted a bit of revenge by edging the Raiders on Wild Card weekend, but the Dolphins returned the favor the following week in a 31-10 drubbing.

While Krieg played in two more Pro Bowls and threw 195 touchdown passes in 12 seasons as a Seahawk, Seattle never quite recovered, failing to make the playoffs the next two seasons and not winning another playoff game until 2005.

As for Moon, he overcame a challenging start to his NFL career to help make the Oilers perennial contenders in the AFC, guiding them to their first playoff appearance since 1980 during the 1987 strike-shortened season. Houston also won its first playoff game in nearly a decade, ironically beating Seattle 23-20 in overtime during the Wild Card round.

In total, Moon made six Pro Bowls in 10 seasons with Houston, passing for over 33,000 yards and 196 touchdowns. Aided by the support of perennial All-Pro linemen Bruce Matthews and Mike Munchak as well as Pro Bowl running back Mike Rozier and receivers Drew Hill, Ernest Givens, and Haywood Jeffires, he led the team to seven consecutive playoff appearances.

Like Krieg in Seattle, however, he never could quite get the franchise over the hump, going 3-7 as a starter in postseason games and failing to reach the AFC Championship game.

If circumstances played out differently and Moon beat out Krieg for the starting job in 1984, statistics indicate the Seahawks would’ve initially been worse. He threw 59 interceptions in comparison to just 40 touchdowns during his first three NFL seasons, while Krieg threw 80 touchdowns and 55 interceptions during that span.

But from that point on, Moon’s career took flight towards Canton, while Krieg’s plateaued in the late 80s.

From 1987 to 1993, Moon led the NFL in passing yardage twice, threw 156 touchdown passes, and came through in the clutch time and time again, engineering 16 game-winning drives. And as a gentle reminder, he played in the playoffs every one of those seasons albeit with undesirable results.

Comparatively, Krieg posted respectable but unspectacular numbers, throwing 88 touchdowns and 75 interceptions.

With Largent still highly effective in the latter stages of his career alongside rising young talent Brian Blades and a reliable duo of Warner and John L. Williams in the backfield, Seattle had plenty of weapons offensively and as seen numerous times in NFL history, transitioning from a serviceable starting quarterback to an elite one can be the final missing ingredient for hoisting a Lombardi Trophy.

1984 may not have been quite as magical with Moon dealing with growing pains adjusting to the NFL, but it’s worth wondering how the Seahawks overall fortunes could have changed with the prodigious passer guiding their offense in the late 80s as well as the 90s, which wound up being littered with losing seasons thanks to poor quarterback play.

Instead, in reality, fans had to wait until Moon was nearing the finish line to see him sport a Seahawks uniform. At 41 years of age, he signed with Seattle in 1997, proving to still have a bit in the tank while throwing 36 touchdowns and suiting up for his final Pro Bowl in two years with the team.

Without a time machine or Doc Brown’s DeLorean, we’ll never know what would’ve happened if Moon took Seattle’s offer 13 years prior. He would've had to beat out Krieg to begin with, which was far from a guarantee and certainly played into his final decision to sign with Houston.

Given Moon's own personal playoff disappointments with a stacked squad around him in Houston, maybe it doesn't matter anyway in the scheme of things.

But as the stats (and his bust in Canton) bear out, Moon was the superior quarterback for most of his career, and it’s not out of the realm of possibility the Seahawks could’ve won multiple playoff games with him calling the shots and potentially won its first Super Bowl, rewriting history for the franchise while also altering Moon’s legacy in the process.