Seahawks continue to show signs of ’99

Published 9:00 pm Tuesday, December 16, 2003

KIRKLAND – For the first two months of this season, the Seattle Seahawks partied like it was 1999.

Lately they’ve been fading like 1999.

Now that the Seahawks (8-6) have lost five of their past eight games and appear in danger of missing out on the postseason, it’s human nature to be reminded of their season four years ago. That was when Seattle got off to an 8-2 start before losing five of its final six games.

On the bright side, the Seahawks still got into the playoffs that year because the Kansas City Chiefs lost to Oakland on the final day of the season.

The glass-half-empty view is that the late fade played a part in Seattle’s poor postseason showing. The Seahawks got knocked off 20-17 by the Miami Dolphins in that playoff appearance, which marks the franchise’s last postseason trip and its only one since 1988.

“We have a better team than we had that year,” said fullback Mack Strong, one of 10 current Seahawks left over from the 1999 squad. “That was a case of maybe people starting to point fingers (at teammates) and stuff. And there’s been none of that on this team. I feel like we’ve done a great job of hanging in there together in the locker room.”

This year’s Seahawks can still get into the playoffs, and by doing so they would probably end any talk of a late-season fade. They are likely to need a pair of wins, and a little help, to extend their season beyond the Dec. 27 regular-season finale at San Francisco.

“We started off well this year,” offensive lineman Walter Jones said. “Right now we’re fighting (to stay alive), but hopefully we can control our own destiny.”

In 1999, the Seahawks controlled their own destiny heading into the final weekend but couldn’t finish the job. A road loss to the New York Jets left Seattle with a 9-7 record and looking like they had blown what was once a three-game lead atop the AFC West. In fact, first-year coach Mike Holmgren gave the team a season wrap-up speech in the locker room shortly after that game.

But while the coach was addressing his team, the Raiders made an improbable comeback to knock off the Chiefs, thereby clinching a division title for the Seahawks.

Despite the reprieve, the team continued to struggle when the playoffs began.

“It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish,” said linebacker Chad Brown, another current player remaining from that squad. “Eight-and-2 means nothing when you lose five of the last six and in convincing fashion. We had no momentum going into the playoffs.”

The way some of the players make it sound, that season’s fade overshadowed the division title. But Brown scoffed at the notion that the 1999 postseason berth should come with some sort of asterisk.

“No, we made the playoffs,” he said. “We were division champs. Do we like the way we finished the season? No. But we were division champs.

“It’s like when you don’t have your best season and still go to the Pro Bowl. You’re still going to enjoy those Mai Tais. They taste very good.”

This year’s team hasn’t had the same colossal fade yet. The Seahawks went from 8-2 to 9-7 in 1999 and have gone from 5-1 to 8-6 this year. But another loss or two could turn up the volume on talk about the 1999 season.

“This team is different,” said defensive end Antonio Cochran, who was a rookie on the ‘99 team. “How we got to where we’re at is different. There are some similarities, as far as how we started out and then back-slid into the playoffs. But we haven’t gotten into the playoffs yet this year. We’ll have to wait and see how it goes.”

There will be no backing into the playoffs this year, as Seattle is currently on the outside looking in. It is likely that anything short of a two-game winning streak will keep the team out of the postseason.

“We’ve got a chance these next two games to erase those comparisons,” Brown said. “We can go into the playoffs winning two in a row instead of backing in because of someone else’s misfortune. That creates a whole different attitude. And once you’re in, as we’ve seen the last couple years, anything can happen.”