Playoffs? With the Seahawks' defense, it's highly unlikely

By Gail Wood | The Olympian • Published October 15, 2008

• Comments (0)

They’re the Freddie Macs of the NFL. Bona fide busts in need of a bailout.

With a 1-4 record for the first time since 2002, the Seattle Seahawks came into the season with a believable sales pitch (four straight division titles) and too-good-to-be-true expectations (a Super Bowl contender) only to have an underachieving performance, losing three straight. Mike Holmgren, in his 10th and final season as the Seahawks coach, could use some bailing out as his team lists toward playoff bankruptcy.

But not even Barack Obama could support this buyout.

That’s going to be left to an underachieving defense that had four Pro-Bowl selections a year ago but couldn’t keep an up-till-now struggling Green Bay Packers offense out of the end zone in Sunday’s 27-17 loss. And, apparently, that bailout will be left to Charlie Frye, the third-string quarterback who played like a third-string quarterback in Sunday’s loss. He attempted just six passes in the first half of the Packer game, completing four. That’s a one-series outing for Matt Hasselbeck.

“I can play better,” Frye said.

That’s plausible. But with Hasselbeck’s assortment of injuries (knee and back), and with Seneca Wallace’s strained calf, Frye will likely get his second start in a year Sunday in Tampa Bay. That doesn’t exactly boost the confidence of Seahawks stockholders.

It doesn’t get any easier for Holmgren. In the Seahawks’ remaining 11 games, they play Philadelphia, Miami, Washington, Dallas, New England and the New York Jets.

Of those teams, only Miami has a losing record. Then there’s Tampa Bay, owners of a 4-2 record and the best defense in the NFL.

As for the Seahawks’ Mild West foes, Arizona is a surprising 4-2, three games up on the slumping Seahawks. St. Louis, although only 1-4, is coming off a stunner, a 19-17 win at Washington. Suddenly, with Arizona winning, it doesn’t look like the Seahawks could sneak into the playoffs with an 8-8 record.

Surprisingly, the Seahawks can no longer find comfort in the fact they play in the NFL’s worst division.