Closer Look

Seahawks get tripped up again in pursuit of postseason

By Don Banks, SI.com

Matt Hassellbeck thought he had thrown a game-winning touchdown pass until an official got in the way. Elsa/Getty Images

ST. LOUIS -- Seattle's once-promising season has two more weeks to run and perhaps one more surprise in store. But there was a sense of finality in the air Sunday in St. Louis, after the Seahawks lost control of their playoff fate with their 27-22 loss to the Rams.

As is only fitting, the nadir of Seattle's season -- so far -- occurred on the road, in St. Louis' raucous Edward Jones Dome. Not only did the Rams' win lock up the NFC West -- a division that Seattle led for much of the season -- it shoved the road-weary Seahawks into the category of wild-card longshots.

Seattle dropped to 8-6, trailing three other wild-card competitors: With its win in Washington on Sunday, Dallas (9-5) has the inside track on the top wild-card spot. Minnesota and Green Bay are both 8-6 in the NFC North. But if both teams win their final two games, the Vikings would be the division champion (by virtue of their better conference record), leaving the Packers to fight for the second wild card.

All of which is bad news for Seattle, since the Seahawks would lose tiebreakers to all three clubs: The Cowboys have a one-game lead and the edge in terms of conference record, 7-3 to 6-4 for Seattle; and the Seahawks would lose out to both the Vikings and Packers by virtue of their head-to-head losses to them earlier this season.

Both of those now crucial losses were on the road, where Seattle is just 1-6 this season, with the past six coming consecutively. The Seahawks, who started 5-1, have lost three of four overall and five of eight. Only a home game against Arizona next week and a Week 17 trip to San Francisco remain.

"I don't know how the whole picture shakes down,'' said dejected Seattle outside linebacker Chad Brown. "I've got no idea. But I know if we go ahead and win these last two games, we give ourselves the best possible shot. That's all we can focus on, these last two games. But the loss last week and this one today makes next week that much more important.''

While the Seahawks are 7-0 at home, their season on the road has been a litany of missed opportunities. The loss to the Rams was their fourth by seven points or fewer away from home, a statistic highlighted by their Week 12 collapse at Baltimore, in which Seattle led by 17 points in the fourth quarter but lost 44-41 in overtime.

"I can't explain it,'' Brown said. "We've been involved in some games we should have put away and didn't, and we're paying for that. If we hadn't had five turnovers in Cincinnati (27-24 loss), and a couple of turnovers in Washington (27-20) ...

"You find a way to win to win those two and suddenly it's not this losing streak we're talking about. It's that we lost to Minnesota in a game where we didn't show up [34-7] and we lost to the Rams in a hard-fought game. That gives this thing a whole different spin.''

Having already lost the Baltimore game due to the referee's error of not starting the game clock in the final minute, the Seahawks endured another final minute calamity Sunday that was beyond their control. Facing a second-and-1 from the Rams 45 with 47 seconds remaining, Seattle quarterback Matt Hasselbeck threw deep for receiver Bobby Engram, but watched as back judge Greg Steed tripped and fell on the play, in the process bringing down Engram inside the Rams' 5. Engram appeared to be open, with at least a shot at making the catch.

"I thought I had it,'' Hasselbeck said. "It was a real bad break for us when Bobby ran into the official.''

Said Steed: "What I did was I looked up, and as I turned, my feet got caught. I went down to the ground and began rolling, and that is all that I remember on the play. As I turned to retreat, or to get deeper as I should say, my feet got caught and I went down to the ground.''

Referee Walt Coleman said the tripping incident has to be filed under the breaks of the game. "We are just part of the field, and unfortunately if we get in the way, we just get in the way,'' Coleman said. "We try not to, but if we do, it is just part of what happens.''

Stuff happens, alright. Usually to Seattle, which missed the playoffs by one game in 1998, head coach Dennis Erickson's final season, due to an official's game-deciding blown touchdown call in a loss at the Jets. If Seattle finishes one game shy of the playoffs this season, it could be a case of déjà vu all over again.

"Wow, that's an interesting observation,'' said Brown, a member of the 1998 Seahawks, who finished 8-8. "I haven't thought about that, but, yeah, kinda, sorta, it does remind you of 1998. Let's hope it's different in the end. Let's hope we win these last two and get into the playoffs, and get a sense of confidence and swagger going in and make some noise once we get there.''

You like irony? Now the Seahawks might need some help from Erickson's new team -- the 49ers, their opponent in Week 17 -- to make the postseason. If the Seahawks somehow can sneak into the playoffs, everything that happened along the way to getting there will be rendered irrelevant, Brown said.

"Oh, hell, yeah,'' he said. "Obviously, you don't want to limp into the playoffs, and you don't want to back your way in. But once you get into the playoffs, you're in. You've got as good a shot as anybody else. It's all about getting there. That's the real season. All the rest of this is is a stepping stone to play in the real season.

"I got to hope we're not feeling sorry for ourselves at this point. I don't believe so. There's no reason to. We still have a shot to get to the playoffs. And that's what you play those 16 games for.''