The drama queens of the world -- mostly TV people who feel the need to find a unique a narrative -- want to make Seattle's season all about redemption for screwing up last season's Super Bowl.  

The naysayers claim the Hawks can’t do it without Kam Chancellor.

Neither of those thoughts is accurate.

Forget redemption. That championship is lost. They can't get it back. And with it went their best -- or at least first -- chance of becoming the only team to win three straight Super Bowls. The best they can do is win this year and then aim for the RePete, which would make them an official dynasty (three wins in four years). If they get that far, 2017 would be a truly historic season.

It's not out of the realm of reality. As we said earlier this year, their window as a major contender goes through at least 2017 -- and that applies even if Chancellor is no longer with them.

As much as Chancellor has become the heart and soul of the defense, the Hawks don't really need him as much as bleeding hearts would suppose. If that sounds familiar, we said the same thing about Marshawn Lynch back in February. We say these things not to be inflammatory but simply because they're true.

As John Schneider told SiriusXM NFL radio in early August: "It's about the team. It's the ultimate team sport. In order for us to be a consistent championship-caliber team that we've been preaching ever since we got here, we have to continue to conduct business the way we always have."

Pete Carroll's business is the secondary. Always has been.   

Carroll made Chancellor and fellow fifth-rounder Richard Sherman into All-Pros. He made sixth-rounder Byron Maxwell a $60 million man. Sure, they worked for it, but he showed them how to do it -- creating the same kind of all-star secondary he had in Minnesota, New York, San Francisco and New England.

Carroll is a flexible coach who adapts to his personnel. He would have adjusted to not having Lynch (the Hawks would have made a couple more moves at RB, obviously), and he will compensate for not having Chancellor.

Dion Bailey could easily be the next Chancellor and "Wally Pipp" him.

As Carroll said on the first day of training camp, "Nobody comes here to be a great backup. They don’t dream about being a heck of a backup in the NFL. They dream about playing. … Unfortunately Kam is not here, but the fact is like he’s hurt. We go to the next guy and expect him to play up, and we’ve always done that."

The Seattle defense has been stellar, bordering on legendary. In 2013, it became the third team since the 1970 merger to sweep the trifecta -- No. 1 in yards, points and takeaways -- and last year it became just the second unit in four decades to finish No. 1 in points allowed for three years running.  A couple more seasons of comparable performance and the Hawks could become the best defense of all time.

In previous years, perhaps, Chancellor's holdout and Earl Thomas' bad shoulder would have threatened to ruin that pursuit. But Seattle's stacked front seven (even without Tony McDaniel) should give them a good chance to remain dominant. Carroll has raved about the speed and quickness of his D-line, calling it the fastest front he has had, and the linebackers were lights out in the preseason.

They should help mitigate any struggles by Bailey or new right cornerback Cary Williams. And Carroll has fallbacks for those positions anyway, with DeShawn Shead at the head of the line. The defense should be just fine.

Back to the idea of redemption, Carroll already has taken care of that. He has had enough redemptive moments of his own to know how to usher his team through the failure in Super Bowl XLIX.

"Go ahead and get fired three or four times in your life and see how you like it," he said at the start of camp. "There’s a freedom that comes from that; (you're) dangerous once you’ve been dead already, you know.

"Our principles and the way we think and the outlook that we have, the optimism that we hold, our ability to control what we’re involved with by really focusing great on what we can do gives us a chance to take on any challenge."

He said his players showed they had put the disappointment behind them.

"They’ve responded to the fact that we went through something that was very difficult. They’ve demonstrated that with their work habits. They’ve demonstrated that with enthusiasm that they bring to the challenge that’s ahead of us. There’s no question that these guys are ready to respond. … I’m very confident that we’re going to do this really well."

It all starts today in St. Louis.

Image: Jeff (Flickr)