We're in Barney

Yesterday I was all set to write an inspiring post about how the Seahawks were only one game out of first place, and how it was still anyone's division, etc. I even worked up a whole chart of the rest of the schedule showing how Seattle could steal the NFC West title...

Then the Cardinals came out of Giants Stadium with a win that made it feel like Seattle is way more than just two games out of first place. Right now no rational fan can argue that our team is as good as Arizona, and thus we are left with only one thing to fall back on: Faith.

We need faith, because there isn't much evidence to suport the idea that Seattle can win in Dallas on Sunday. Bunch of players injured? Blurg. Road game? Ugh. 10 am game? Blech. Game after the bye? Seahawks are 2-8 since 1999. Buh-arf. The main thing going in our favor is the possibility that this could be a "trap game" for the Cowboys, given that a huge showdown with Philly looms for them a week later.

The only thing that will turn this season around is an upset win on Sunday. It would be the Seahawks' biggest regular season road win since... wow... probably the division clinching win at the L.A. Coliseum in 1988? Seriously... When was the last time this team won a do-or-die game on the road where they were big underdogs? I can only really cite the win at Minnesota back in '03 from recent history.

This week the Seahawks need to defy the expectations of the media, the football world and, let's be honest, most of the Twelve Army. Win and anything is possible in a still-relevant 2009 season. Lose? Welcome to 6-10ville, my fellow Twelves.... and get used to more "Holmgren is coming back" rumors with each successive defeat.

Concerned but Powerless

The life of an NFL fan is a curious one. It's been said by writers more talented than me that being a fan is a decidedly one-sided relationship. If you think about it, all of us are kind of like creepy stalkers, only our object of obsession is an NFL team rather than another person.

We follow them around. We plaster their pictures on our walls. Our best (and worst) moments with them are lazer-etched into our memories. We write blogs about them and we swoon at the slightest acknowledgement by them that we exist. I've been obsessed with other people who had little interest in me before, and I've been obsessed with the Seahawks for over a quarter century, and I can tell you that the emotions involved are VERY similar. Just like how getting some attention from that special someone would make me giddy for days, a Seahawks win makes me a reasonable facsimile of a happy person for a few days. You can imagine how painful the opposite has always been for me.

If we weren't the paying customers who help keep the whole enterprise afloat, Matt Hasselbeck, Lofa Tatupu and the rest would get restraining orders filed against the Twelve Army. Our feelings are too intense, and frankly pretty inappropriate under ANY other circumstances.

And we're lucky. The Seahawks organization and players treat the fans VERY well compared to a lot of other NFL teams. The players and coaches give a lot of love to the 12th Man publicly, and despite the disappointing start to this season, Paul Allen generally puts a competitive team on the field that isn't replete with felons and human flotsam.

So why do the losses hurt so much worse this season? I think it's the gnawing, awful feeling that this core group that brought us so much joy and success probably isn't going to hoist that Lombardi Trophy. Anything can happen in any season, but I can't shake the idea that players like Hasselbeck and Walter Jones aren't going to be there when Seattle finally conquers the NFL. It's a terrible feeling compounded by the injustice of XL.

Yeah, yeah. A lot of you are saying "get over it" right now... even a lot of Seahawks fans. It's so difficult to explain this to anyone who isn't a long-term, die-hard Twelve. We put up with decades of being treated as the NFL's second-class citizens, and finally in 2005 everything clicked into place. Then when we could taste the validation that would then DEMAND respect for us, for our team... When we could almost grasp that Lombardi Trophy that would forever make us, if only for one year, Champions... Then it was taken away by forces out of our control.

It wasn't a Bartman or Buckner situation. It was far worse because the officiating fail was so obvious and so consistently comprehensive that practically anyone not wearing Yinzer blinders could see that we got screwed.

But even with that pain lingering, playoff trips in 2006 and 2007 made me think "redemption is near! revenge, payback and respect are nigh!" Now that idea is fading away like Marty McFly's siblings, and I'm having an awful time dealing with it in any constructive or mature way.

So we trudge on as fans, even though each loss knocks that much more life out of us. We beg for hope, even if it is a pathetic mental placebo, because we don't want to face the painful past or the uncertain future.

I don't want to say the season's over.... but I don't know how to finish that sentence.

This is where I'm supposed to go all Mitch Albom and talk about the birth of my daughter has put the NFL/Seahawks in proper perspective, blah blah blah. Unfortunately I don't feel that way this morning. Of course my daughter is way more important than any football game or football team, but the Seahawks have governed my emotional state for over a quarter century now, and even a beautiful little baby girl can't make a real dent in that.

Realistically, there is little chance that Seattle can make the playoffs. After a fairly brutal November schedule, the Seahawks will probably be 4-7, and 6-10 appears to be the most likely final record for this squad. Injuries have obviously played a part in this, but another pattern is unmistakable: Regardless of result, the Seahawks have played well one week, only to follow that with a putrid performance 7 days later. They have two blowout wins and two blowout losses, and all the evidence points to this conclusion: This is a talented team that is completely rudderless.

Jim Mora and his staff are ultimately responsible for this, and culpable for Seattle's apparent total lack of preparation yesterday. If Wisenhunt had been more aggressive in the second half, the final score would have been closer to 45-3. The Cardinal passing offense was rolling, and our offense was 1979-v-The-Rams inept.

The maddening thing? I really don't think that the 49ers or Cardinals are that much better than Seattle. Right now, on top of injuries, something is psychologically amiss with the Seahawks, and I have no idea how to fix it. If Mora, Knapp, etc want to earn their pay, they will figure it out over the next fortnight.

Want a ray of hope? The Cardinals and Niners could both easily lose to NYG/Houston next week, leaving us only one game out of first place. Last year SD won the AFC West at 8-8, and it isn't that crazy to think that could happen in our division this fall. Before anyone bitches about "not deserving" a playoff spot at 8-8, remember the Chargers felled the mighty Colts in the Wild Card game last January. I don't think any Bolts fan fails to cherish that memory, do you?

8-8 for Seattle means wins over Detroit, STL, Tampa Bay and Tennessee PLUS two more wins off this menu of games: @Dallas, @Minnesota, @AZ, SF, @HOU, @GB. No doubt: We have to start winning some games we aren't supposed to... like, now.

I'm not a pessimist. If Seattle can win at Dallas in two weeks (and these Cowboys aren't exactly of the 1992 vintage), everything will look shiny and new. But right now, I'm in what Bob Mould would call a Deep Karma Canyon, along with the rest of the Twelve Army.

Questionable

We don't know when my wife and baby daughter will be discharged from the hospital on Sunday, so I don't know if I'll get to watch the Seahawks game. Feel free to follow my thoughts, about either the game OR missing my first game since 1983, on twitter.

Go Seahawks!

Welcome the newest Keebler Twelve!

Lily Rhiannon is here! She was born at 9:34 eastern time on October 14, 2009, and both Mom and baby are doing just swell.

Hopefully the timing works out so I can see the game on Sunday, but I'm not dumb enough to mention that to my wife at the moment. :-]

Here's a pic for y'all...