Seahawks stay alive

Published 9:00 pm Saturday, December 27, 2003

SAN FRANCISCO – Faced with the possibility of seeing their season end one day earlier than most of the NFL, the Seattle Seahawks clawed, scratched and battled Saturday to stay alive in the playoff chase by winning their first road game in seven tries.

And that was the easy part.

Now the Seahawks (10-6) will have to watch other teams decide their playoff fate.

“It’s going to suck,” safety Reggie Tongue said after a hard-fought 24-17 win over the San Francisco 49ers. “Hopefully somebody will lose. But we put ourselves in this situation, and we have to deal with it.”

The two favorite teams for Seahawks fans today are Arizona (hosting Minnesota) and Denver (at Green Bay). A loss by the Vikings or Packers would put Seattle in the postseason for the first time since 1999. If New Orleans beats Dallas, the Seahawks could also clinch a playoff spot, although the tie-breaker comes down to a strength of schedule percentage that might not be determined until the evening game is played.

The easy math would have been for San Francisco to knock off the Seahawks on Saturday, thereby putting Minnesota and Green Bay into the playoffs regardless of what happens today.

The Seattle players refused to let it come to that.

“We knew that if we lost, we were out,” fullback Mack Strong said. “There was no question that the guys would be ready and come out and play. It’s the rest of our season. All of our goals and everything we talked about during the offseason and training camp culminated in this one game.”

For the third consecutive time, the Seahawks got off to another shaky start on the road and appeared in danger of losing their seventh away game in a row. Josh Brown’s missed field goal attempt and a Matt Hasselbeck interception led to a pair of San Francisco touchdown drives to put the Seahawks in a 14-0 hole midway through the second quarter.

But rather than see its season come to an end, Seattle responded with a pair of quick touchdowns to tie the score. Alex Bannister, a special teams star who had caught only one pass all season, was on the receiving end of a 31-yard touchdown pass from Hasselbeck to put the Seahawks on the scoreboard with 5:51 remaining in the first half.

Marcus Trufant intercepted a pass to set up another touchdown, this time on Shaun Alexander’s 3-yard touchdown run to tie the score at 14 with 54 seconds left in the first half.

San Francisco kicker Todd Peterson, a former Seahawk, bounced a field goal attempt off the right upright in the waning seconds to keep the score tied 14-14 going into halftime.

The 49ers (7-9) struck first again in the second half, as Peterson’s 38-yard field goal gave San Francisco a 17-14 lead on the opening drive of the third quarter.

That would be the last lead the 49ers would see.

Koren Robinson gave Seattle its first lead, at 21-17, on a 30-yard touchdown reception with 3 1/2 minutes remaining in the third quarter.

The 49ers got near midfield on several occasions from that point on, but couldn’t cross the 50-yard line. Brown’s 33-yard field goal with 1:56 remaining gave Seattle a 24-17 lead, then the Seahawks held on the final drive.

The 49ers’ chances officially came to an end when Jeff Garcia’s flat pass on fourth-and-1 fell short of receiver Tai Streets with 1:06 to go.

“This is why you play, to give yourselves a shot at the end of the season to be in the playoffs,” linebacker Chad Brown said. “We’ve won two in a row now, and we got over this road jinx. We have some momentum going for us if we get some things go our way in these other games. I don’t even know (what has to happen for the Seahawks to qualify for the postseason), or even care. We’ve done all we can do.”

Most of the Seahawks do care what happens today, which is why their high-priced television sets will undoubtedly be tuned in to the action.

“I normally don’t watch games,” Tongue said, “but (Sunday) I’m going to be glued to the TV. Hopefully things will fall our way.”

Hope is all the Seahawks have today. So some of them are taking things into their own hands in any way they can.

“Everybody should go to church and pray that we get in this thing,” middle linebacker Randall Godfrey said. “If we get in this thing, somebody’s in trouble.”