I have a confession to make.

I did not believe in Geno Smith.

When Russell Wilson went down with a broken finger last year, I was forced to accept that the season was over.

The Seahawks had not started a backup quarterback in a serious game in years and Smith was more known in my household for being elite at the pregame coin flip than for any performance on the football field.

In the games he played that year, he lived up to the coin-flip guy narrative. The Seahawks won only one game with him as signal caller, including multiple games that were close but ultimately lost because of mistakes Smith made.

When the Seahawks traded Wilson away this recent off-season, things were looking grim. The QB options in Seattle were Drew Lock, who has a big arm and good physical skills but already failed as a starter in Denver and Smith, who had not managed to keep the team afloat at all in his previous starts.

Personally, I wanted the potential of Lock over what I thought was a known player in Smith. Smith has been in the NFL for years now and his only stints starting came on very bad Jets teams early on.

You see, Smith has never been a big name. He had some good years at West Virginia and showed out in a bowl game or two, but was never a top-notch Heisman candidate kind of guy. Most NFL quarterbacks were well-known top players in college and almost every single starter went in the first round. In a year where only one quarterback was drafted in the first, Smith had to wait until day two and went with the 39th overall pick to the Jets.

In the two seasons he was named as the starter for the Jets he showed gradual improvement but remained a liability at the position. He was benched multiple times in his second season for near-retirement Michael Vick and by his third season, he had been fully benched for Ryan Fitzpatrick.

There is a detail in those seasons that people often miss, probably because until this year it was really more of a bar trivia question than anything meaningful. In the last week of the 2014 season, Smith threw a perfect game. In the NFL a passer rating of 158.3 is the highest possible.

It is achieved by a number of specific statistical achievements not worth writing out here. Google it if you care, just know it is a big deal.

In a 37-24 victory over the Miami Dolphins, Smith threw 358 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions, completing 20-of-25 attempts. A perfect game.

For years, this stood as a wild standout in an otherwise mediocre career, a diamond in the rough. When he started in various places, it was always as a replacement for injury. He was never trusted with a team and he never really played like someone that should be.

Until now.

At the start of the 2022 season, Smith was named the starter. I sent those texts from earlier to my dad.

“What a sad season this is going to be for them,” he said.

“Geno really doesn’t look bad most of the time, he just makes game-losing mistakes a couple times a game,” I replied, foolish as ever. “So as long as they somehow get that to go away, he’s passably bad.”

Stupid.

I did not see the vision. Clearly, something happened when Smith was given the keys to the team. The coaching staff trusts him and he is playing like he deserves it. In the first game of the season, he beat Wilson and the Broncos on Monday Night Football.

It was talked about as the Seahawks’ Super Bowl for the year, our one big victory.

Now, at the midseason mark, Smith has won an offensive player of the month award, is sixth in yards, first in completion percentage among starters and fifth in touchdowns with fewer interceptions than anyone ahead of him.

He is seventh in MVP odds and has led the Seahawks to a 6-3 record and first place in the NFC West by multiple games.

At this point our Super Bowl is not some random season opener against a bad team, it’s the actual Super Bowl. When the Seahawks hoist the Lombardi trophy next February it will be to chants of “Geno, Geno, Geno” and the long road Smith took to get here will have all been worth it.

Eugene Cyril “Geno” Smith III, if you are reading this, I am so sorry. I will never doubt you again and I thank you for all you have done. Let’s ride.