Bevell: “We’re going to be running back by committee."

Yet a pertinent question sits out there, brought out into the public debate with increasing frequency: How much longer will Marshawn Lynch be the linchpin of the Seahawks’ attack?

The issue was raised in that same Town Hall meeting, when a fan asked offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell about Christine Michael’s role in 2014.

“We’re going to be running back by committee,’’ Bevell told the audience at CenturyLink Field and online, adding later, “We really like what Christine Michael is doing right now.”

Any job-sharing at running back would be a significant departure for the Seahawks, who have ridden Lynch as virtually the sole feature back for three seasons. He has averaged 300 carries per season in that span, and last year was one of just two NFL backs, along with LeSean McCoy, to exceed that number.

The toll didn’t seem to affect Lynch. It never does. In fact, he appeared to pick up steam as the season progressed. In the Seahawks’ first two playoff games, he ran for 140 yards and two touchdowns against New Orleans, and 109 yards and a score against San Francisco. In the Super Bowl, Lynch carried 15 times for 39 yards and a touchdown in a game so quickly lopsided that his typical output was scarcely needed. Lynch’s durability has been nothing short of remarkable.

But Lynch turned 28 in April, an age at which the caution flag tends to go up for NFL running backs, especially ones who run with as much reckless disregard for their own well-being as Lynch does. The decline, when it comes, can be abrupt and irreversible — remember Shaun Alexander?

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