RENTON, Wash. — A yard away from the victory of a lifetime, the Seattle Seahawks instead suffered, well, the defeat of a lifetime.

A pass from quarterback Russell Wilson intended for wide receiver Ricardo Lockette at the goal line was picked off by New England Patriots cornerback Malcolm Butler with 20 seconds left in the game, so instead of potentially winning the game, the Seahawks were 28-24 losers and saw their chances of becoming the ninth repeat Super Bowl champion vanish in an instant.

It was a shocking end to another fine season for a Seattle team added historical credibility to the championship it won the year before by making a return trip to the Super Bowl.

However, in the immediate aftermath of the Sunday’s loss, there was little real searching for silver linings.

“The shock of disappointment that this game gets away from us and goes another way right at the finish line is something that we have to deal with,” Seattle coach Pete Carroll said. “In the long run, it will make us stronger and we’ll be able to put it in some kind of perspective. It’s pretty hard right now. I think y’all understand that.”

Carroll spent the day after the game mostly trying to explain the frantic ending.

Seattle appeared on the verge of another Super Bowl rout when it took a 24-14 lead midway through the third quarter.

However, quarterback Tom Brady led two fourth-quarter drives to give the Patriots a 28-24 lead with 2:02 remaining. Seattle then drove to the New England 1-yard line, thanks in part to a highlight-reel catch by wide receiver Jermaine Kearse that resulted in a 33-yard gain to the 5-yard line.

A carry by running back Marshawn Lynch took it to the 1, where the Seahawks then called a pass on an inside slant rout to Lockette, a reserve receiver elevated to the third receiver spot due to a December injury to Paul Richardson.

Carroll said the Seahawks had a three-receiver formation in the game and saw the Patriots counter with a goal-line set and decided to call a pass — the team had one timeout remaining.

“It didn’t work, didn’t work out,” Carroll said. “The sequence … I was really so confident that we were going to get it done that to go ahead and make the call that we made was just part of the sequence.

“We had a very clear thought about what was going on. It’s really easy. If we run the ball, we might run it in and score. If we throw the ball, we might catch a touchdown pass and score right there as well. It’s really easy to look at it that way from the outside, but we were very confident in the sequence and we were going to use every play. The idea is to always have all your plays available and not run the clock out and there’s another down left, and so we had that organized to do that.”

However, as Carroll said, it didn’t work, and the Seahawks were instead left to wonder what might have been.

With a young core of players and a team that went 36-12 the last three seasons, Seattle again will enter next season as a Super Bowl favorite, which would have meant having a chance to become the first three-peat Super Bowl champ.

Now, the Seahawks have to pick up the pieces and try to get back to where they were against the Patriots.

Seattle will try in the offseason to further secure its future by signing Wilson, Lynch and middle linebacker Bobby Wagner to contract extensions. The Seahawks appear to have both the willingness and capability to get that done. The Seahawks might also try to re-sign free agent cornerback Byron Maxwell.

Carroll said that when the shock of the loss wears off, the Seahawks will be able to come back together and move on the same as if they had not lost the Super Bowl.

“The interactions with the players (after the game), their determination and their resolve about where we’re going and what we’re doing is absolutely clear, and they’re very strong about it and the future is very, very bright for us and we all know that,” Carroll said. “So, you know, just disappointed we have to bring this home to our fans that are following and all the families and all that because it was so close to being on the other end of the spectrum a million miles from where we are right now. It’s just something we have to just live with.”

REPORT CARD VS. PATRIOTS

–PASSING OFFENSE: B-minus — The grade figured to be a lot higher until the final play when QB Russell Wilson threw an inexplicable interception that decided the game. Seattle went almost 25 minutes before completing a pass, but then Wilson got hot for most of the rest of the game, especially in targeting receivers down the field. He completed 12 of 21 passes for 247 yards with two touchdowns and a 110.6 passer rating despite the late interception. The final play, though, is hard to ignore and spoke to Seattle’s depth issues at receiver with the Seahawks forced to target little-used WR Ricardo Lockette on the play. The pass protection was some of the best Wilson got all season, one key to the ability to hit some of the downfield throws. Until the last play, the MVP of the game might have been WR Chris Matthews, who entered the game without a catch in a regular season or postseason game but finished with four receptions for 109 yards and a touchdown.

–RUSHING OFFENSE: A-minus — RB Marshawn Lynch had another fabulous game, gaining 102 yards on 24 carries, as the Seahawks rushed for 162 overall and 5.6 per attempt. The blocking was at times erratic, and Lynch did get stuffed on two third-and-shorts. However, the Seahawks were especially effective on the ground in the last three quarters, producing 146 yards, again wearing down an opponent. Seattle fans, though, will forever wonder why Lynch didn’t get the ball on the last play.

–PASS DEFENSE: C — The Super Bowl was an uncharacteristically poor day for the Legion of Boom, with Patriots QB Tom Brady completing a Super Bowl-record 37 passes (on 50 attempts) for 328 yards. He threw four touchdown passes and two interceptions. The one big asterisk is that CB Richard Sherman, S Earl Thomas and S Kam Chancellor were all playing with injuries, and nickel back Jeremy Lane was hurt early in the game. The injuries took a toll, as Thomas and Chancellor each were beaten on some plays they might have made when fully healthy, and CB Tharold Simon struggled when replacing Lane. The pass rush was also not great, especially after DE Cliff Avril left midway through the third quarter due to a concussion.

–RUSH DEFENSE: B — The stats show it was a good day for the Seahawks against the run as the Patriots had just 57 yards on 21 carries. However, the Patriots had some effective runs early when they took the lead, and that seemed to keep the Seahawks somewhat honest throughout. New England barely tried to run in the second half, managing just 12 yards on nine carries as the Seahawks took control for a while. DL Michael Bennett had one of his best days up front both against the run and the pass — he had four quarterback hits.

–SPECIAL TEAMS: B — Little happened on special teams in a game in which there were just eight combined returns and only one field-goal attempt — a make by Seattle PK Steven Hauschka. Seattle gets downgraded slightly because it didn’t get much out of the returns it did try (PR Bryan Walters had 6 yards on two attempts) and it let the Patriots’ Julian Edelman have a couple of decent punt returns — 27 yards on three attempts with a long of 15.

–COACHING: D — The temptation is to call it a complete failure due to the last play call, which regardless of exactly who made it is hard to defend. But in the big picture, Carroll again had his team ready to play and win a Super Bowl. Despite the injury issues in the secondary and an undermanned receiving corps, the Seahawks were a yard away from becoming just the ninth team to win consecutive Super Bowls. But boy, that last yard is hard to ignore. One of the most head-scratching aspects of it is that it runs totally counter to Carroll’s usual conservative nature when it comes to turnovers. However, Carroll also likes to show confidence in his players even if he sometimes puts them in equally head-scratching positions. This was one time it backfired historically.