Yesterday our own Seattle Seahawks drubbed the lowly San Francisco 49ers 41-3. The Hawks are now 11-2 and have won nine straight games. Next week they travel to Tennessee to slap around the Titans. (Fun stat: The Seahawks have out-scored their opponents 83-3 the past two games.)

All of this is good news—especially for the handful of us here at The Stranger who enjoy football—but there’s trouble on the horizon. On Christmas Eve the Indianapolis Colts come to town. The Colts are currently 13-0 and are threatening to run the table, a feat not achieved since the Miami Dolphins did it in 1972. When the Colts arrive at Qwest Field, they’ll most likely have a record of 14-0.

Seattle’s professional sports teams have a (mostly earned) rep for choking, but this year could finally cement a far more troubling trend: Our best teams often find themselves up against miserable timing. Consider: 1996, the year the Sonics made it to the NBA finals only to match up against Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls, a team that lost only 10 games during the regular season and was, arguably, the greatest team in NBA history. Also consider: 2001, when the Mariners tied the Major League record with 116 wins, only to face, and eventually lose to, a New York Yankees team beloved by all of America post-9/11.

If the Seahawks make it to the Super Bowl (don’t laugh, it could definitely happen—especially if they win next week and the Chicago Bears lose, guaranteeing the Hawks home field advantage throughout the playoffs), they could quite possibly face an Indianapolis team that hasn’t lost a single game all season. Miserable timing yet again.