This game was a chance to declare themselves the once-and-future kings of the NFC.
This was the Seahawks’ prime-time opportunity to define their personality, to waltz into their week off with a stranglehold on their conference.
Instead they anointed the Chicago Bears. They left little doubt about who, at the end of the first quarter of the season, is the best team in their conference. The Bears were tougher, smarter, meaner, better.
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From beginning to end, this season’s first showdown was a mowdown.
“I think we’re a better football team than we were tonight,” Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren said. “But it is what it is.”
The Seahawks made all the mistakes.
Their defense broke down. Chicago quarterback Rex Grossman shredded–yeah, shredded–the Hawks’ secondary for 232 yards and two touchdowns. The secondary was punished by Chicago’s wide receivers Muhsin Muhammed and Bernard Berrian.
The Hawks new four-wide-receiver offensive set didn’t look as dazzling, didn’t seem as unstoppable, as it did a week earlier against the New York Giants. Trying to make something happen, Hasselbeck made mistake after mistake.
With the whole football world watching, without MVP running back Shaun Alexander, the Hawks lost 37-6 to the undefeated Chicago Bears.
This wasn’t just a loss. It was a clench-fisted wake-up call. An alarm that a whole lot of work needs to be done on both sides of the ball if the Hawks want to entertain thoughts of another Super Bowl.
“This was just one bad performance,” wide receiver Bobby Engram said. “Give the Bears credit. But the bottom line is we’re still 3-1.”
And the Hawks still reside in the NFC West, where, with San Francisco, St. Louis and Arizona, the living is easy.
Not to be an alarmist, but Hasselbeck has thrown seven interceptions in the last three games. He didn’t throw his seventh interception last year until Nov. 13.
“That’s the most pressure Matt’s felt in a while,” Holmgren said.
The defense, which virtually was impenetrable for the first 11 quarters of the season, has allowed 64 points in the last five.
Losses in October showdowns, however, have a way of losing their sting by late December.
They aren’t the same old Seahawks who tormented Seattle for so many seasons before last year.
But these 60 sorry Sunday minutes were a reminder that they aren’t close to being the 2006 Super Bowl Seahawks either.