THE CHEAP SEATS with STEVE CAMERON: Think Geno can get these Seahawks to a Super Bowl? Keep dreaming

At the Pro Football Hall of Fame, there is a huge monument just inside the front door. 

It features a stunning statue of two men, clearly in their prime, displaying both the rugged athleticism and steely-eyed look of winners that strikes you in an instant. 

They were the quarterbacks in Super Bowl of 2002. 

Just the names give you goosebumps. 

Brad Johnson. 

Rich Gannon. 

There hasn’t been a collision of giants to match that one since Frazier and Ali. 

Even more shocking, in the history of all 59 Super Bowls, the only quarterback classic to match Tampa Bay’s Johnson and Gannon of the Homeless Raiders came two years prior — a duel between Baltimore’s Trent Dilfer (whom coach Brian Billick told NOT to throw a pass under threat of execution) and the Giants’ Kerry Collins in 2000. 

Would you be stunned to learn that in 59 Super Bowls, there have only been a couple of a legitimate upsets in which a star quarterback has lost to a nobody? 

Doug Williams qualified by beating John Elway in 1987. 

Oh, and there have been a few games in which we could call the QBs equal (more or less), but is there a long list of surprises? 

Nope. 

Not even close. 

BY THE way, you probably guessed this. 

But. 

Nah, there’s no statue of Brad Johnson and Rich Gannon glittering inside the front door of the Hall of Fame. 

For all I know, the tour guides might not even know their names. 

Now here is the question that is slowly coming to your mind about Johnson and Gannon: Why am I writing about these the two characters in the middle of an NFL season? 

Well, fans of every team start the year dreaming of a Super Bowl. 

Somewhere in that version of “Alice in Wonderland” comes a slap of reality. 

Do we have a quarterback who can lead us to a special season? 

If you spend your time idolizing the Bills (Josh Allen), Chiefs (Patrick Mahomes), Bengals (Joe Burrow) or Ravens (Lamar Jackson), you don’t have to lie awake wondering about that question. 

You’re in good shape. 

Shoot, Mahomes has won three of the things and has a terrific team around him as he aims for No. 4. 

Pat even has Taylor Swift kissing Travis Kelce good night (and good morning) for an extra measure of angel dust. 

Let’s see. 

Three or four more teams have quarterbacks who MIGHT get you to the promised land. 

Emphasis on “might.” 

Matthew Stafford has proven he can do it. 

Jalen Hurts, Brock Purdy, Burrow and Jared Goff each has made it to a Super Bowl … but couldn’t win one. 

So far. 

Yes, of course, we’re discussing this today because you HAVE to wonder about the Seahawks. 

Mike Macdonald seems to have the knack for building a roster, particularly on defense. 

You get the feeling he can assemble a gang of ruffians who can make the playoffs somewhere shortly down the road. 

But can Mike and GM John Schneider find a quarterback? 

IT’S AN obvious question now, because even the most dedicated fans struggle to believe in Geno Smith. 

I mean, struggle to imagine Geno as elite. 

Can you picture Smith holding up the Lombardi Trophy, as confetti showers down on the champion Seahawks? 

Honestly? 

I can’t. 

Give him a running game to set up play-action passes, a solid offensive line to guarantee a clean pocket, a defense to balance it all — and make this happen SOON since Geno is now 34. 

Let Tinker Bell land on Geno and his teammates immediately (or sooner) and maybe you could dream it all falling together. 

Or maybe not. 

Geno needs to be the Brad Johnson QB of 2002, a guy with the right team at the right time. 

Or Trent Dilfer, whose Ravens hauled him to win the whole thing. 

Johnson and Dilfer were quarterbacks who couldn’t drag a team over hurdles — like Mahomes or Brady.  

Geno Smith falls in that first category, not the second. 

If you want to keep dreaming, just close your eyes and picture the Rams’ Kamren Kinchens going 103 yards with the interception that Geno threw right into his chest. 

That’s all you have to see, really. 

Sorry. 

Email: scameron@cdapress.com 

Steve Cameron’s “Cheap Seats” columns appear in The Press four times each week, normally Tuesday through Friday unless, you know, stuff happens. 

Steve suggests you take his opinions in the spirit of a Jimmy Buffett song: “Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On.”