Packers humble Hawks

Seattle sputters on both sides of the ball in loss

By Frank Hughes | The News Tribune • Published October 13, 2008

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SEATTLE - A Seattle Seahawks season that began so sanguinely has disintegrated into a quagmire of shock and despair, a 27-17 loss to the Green Bay Packers on Sunday afternoon the latest chapter in their weekly ineptitude.

Missing starting quarterback Matt Hasselbeck and still searching for a defense that resembles the one that sent four players to the Pro Bowl last season, the Seahawks lost for the fourth time in five games.

Combined with the Arizona Cardinals' overtime victory over the Dallas Cowboys, the Seahawks are now 2 1/2 games back in the NFC West, in danger of relinquishing their four-year grip on the division title. With St. Louis' last-second victory over Washington, the Seahawks now share a spot in the cellar with the Rams.

And suddenly, with less than half the season complete, the Seahawks' goals seem to have changed from winning the division to simply winning a game.

Coach Mike Holmgren was not beet-faced and angry following the game but appeared almost resigned to his fate in what will be his last year of coaching. Where he was defiant after two losses, confidently proclaiming that his team would snap out of its funk, he now seems almost philosophical about the team's stunning transformation from NFL nobility to peasantry.

"My message to the team when I called them together is one that they have heard before from me, but it is very important that they hear me now: It is a test of sorts," Holmgren said. "We are not used to this. It's been a long time. But here we are. So how do we deal with it, as players and coaches? It is very, very important that they answer that question."

Notice that Holmgren did not reference the future, or the need to win next week in Tampa Bay, another daunting obstacle given the team's recent history of poor play on the East Coast.

Perhaps it is because he has no idea when he will get back Hasselbeck, who suffered a hyperextended knee against the New York Giants last week and could not play against the Packers, a team that snapped its own three-game losing streak to improve to 3-3.