Seattle Avengers

2024 Seattle Avengers Season
The Seattle Avengers are a virtual American football team that play in the Valiant Football League, and are a member of the Pacific Conference, playing in the Pacific Conference Coastal Division. The team was formed in 2014.
Since their inception, the Seattle Avengers have won the United Cup once, in 2021, and have won the Pacific Conference Championship once in 2021, and have won the Pacific Conference Coastal Division twice, in 2019 and 2021. Since their inception, the Avengers have made the playoffs five times, only missing the postseason in 2014, 2016, and 2020.
The team was coached by Chicago Bears legend Mike Ditka from 2014 until 2018, when he was replaced by Terry Watts going into the 2019 UFL Season. During his tenure as the head coach of the Avengers, Mike Ditka would earn a 14-16 record and make the postseason four times. During his lone season as the head coach of the Seattle Avengers, Terry Watts would earn a 12-4 record to make the postseason as the second seed in the Pacific Conference. Following the 2019 UFL season, Terry Watts would leave the Seattle Avengers, and following Watts' departure from the Avengers, Seattle would hire Indiana PA head coach Paul Tortorella to serve as the team's new head coach for the 2020 UFL Season.
The team currently plays their home games at Lumen Field in Seattle, Washington.
== History ==
=== Mike Ditka era (2014-2017) ===
Going into the inaugural season for the UFL, the Seattle Avengers would hire former Chicago Bears legend Mike Ditka to serve as the team's head coach for their first two years as a franchise. During the UFL Quarterback Draft, the Avengers would sign former Detroit Lions and Minnesota Vikings quarterback Daunte Culpepper to start at quarterback. Culpepper would find minimal success in the 2014 UFL season, earning a 2-4 record, missing the postseason. The following year, Culpepper would begin coming into form with the Avengers offense, earning a 4-2 record to earn the third and final spot in the Pacific Conference playoff picture, only to be eliminated in the Pacific Conference Championship Game by the eventual league champion Los Angeles Bolts. Despite falling short of the league championship, the Avengers would extend Daunte Culpepper's contract for the following two years, to continue serving as the team's starting quarterback.
Despite being predicted as the third-best favored team in the league to win the league championship, the Avengers would start the 2016 UFL Season slow, eventually finishing with a 3-3 record to miss the postseason for the second time in three years. During the 2016 UFL offseason, Daunte Culpepper would suffer a fractured clavicle before the beginning of the 2017 UFL season, thus forcing third-year quarterback John Franklin to begin taking over starting quarterback duties for the team.
Going into the 2017 UFL Season, John Franklin would prove experts predicting a franchise-worst year for the team by assisting the Avengers in finishing the season with a 3-3 record to earn the third-seed in the Pacific Conference. After defeating the 5-1 Arizona Copperheads in the Pacific Conference Divisional Round, the Avengers would fall short in their second Pacific Conference Championship Game appearance in franchise history to the 5-1 Vegas Demons to end their season short of the league championship once again. After a successful campaign during the 2017 UFL Season, Mike Ditka would confirm that John Franklin would continue serving as the team's starting quarterback into the 2018 UFL Season, which would also end the Daunte Culpepper era in Seattle, as Culpepper would be released during the 2018 UFL offseason.
After high hopes of making it back to the Pacific Conference Championship Game, the Avengers would start slow in the beginning of the season once again, eventually falling to a league-worst 0-4 record to start the season, with the only hope of a postseason berth being a tie-breaker for the second-place position in the Pacific Conference Coastal Division, which they now shared with the Tampa Silverstars, Vancouver Outlaws and the Los Angeles Bolts. After surging in the fifth week of the season, the Avengers would finish the season with a 2-4 record, earning the fifth and final seed in the Pacific Conference to earn a spot in the Wildcard Round ahead of the 2-4 Los Angeles Bolts and 2-4 Vancouver Outlaws in the Pacific Conference Coastal Division, just behind the 5-1 Tampa Silverstars. Despite high hopes of being an upset competitor in the postseason, the Avengers would fall to the Los Angeles Bolts in the 2018 UFL Wildcard Round, ending their season slowly in the way it began. Following a weak regular season showing and an early postseason exit, the Avengers would fire head coach Mike Ditka, ending his era with the team with a 14-16 record over the prior five years.
=== The Colin Kaepernick era, Terry Watts tenure, Paul Tortorella hiring and Drafting Ty Gangi (2018-present) ===
Following the firing of head coach Mike Ditka, the Avengers would hire Terry Watts to take over the duties of head coach for the team. After the signing of Shane Slack to serve as the team's General Manager, the team would cause media hysteria after signing former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick to a two year deal to play as the team's starting quarterback. After the season was extended from six games to sixteen games, the Avengers would release quarterback John Franklin, thus giving Kaepernick the full starting role going into the 2019 UFL season.
With high hopes of success following Kaepernick's signing to the team, the Avengers would rise to the occasion by finishing the 2019 UFL season with a 12-4 record, winning the Pacific Conference Coastal Division and earning the second seed in the Pacific Conference postseason picture. After defeating the Tampa Silverstars in the Pacific Conference Divisional Round to play in the Pacific Conference Championship Game for the third time in franchise history, the Avengers would fall to the eventual league champion 7-9 Arizona Copperheads to end their season short of the league championship once again. Following an offer from the XFL, head coach Terry Watts would resign as the team's head coach, thus leading to a vacancy that would be filled during the 2019 UFL offseason by former Indiana PA head coach Paul Tortorella, whose first move as the team's third head coach in franchise history would be to draft quarterback Ty Gangi during the 2020 UFL Draft, with hopes of developing Gangi into a professional football quarterback in preparation for quarterback Colin Kaepernick's potential departure from the team following the 2020 UFL Season once his contract runs out.