Chiefs 42, Seahawks 24

"We should all dance jaunty little jigs if the Hawks win half their games. An improvement of three games is significant, and would show the Twelve Army that the Carroll era is off to a solid start..." -Me, on this blog, May 2, 2010

There are many different ways Seahawks fans deal with adversity. Some (thankfully the minority) react like this hulking fat fuck in Section 125 yesterday: Giving the finger to his own team, cursing them, and braying "boooooo!" like some sort of farm animal. My wife always tells me that she knows a Seahawks game is going poorly when I'm quiet. This is true, but inside, I'm a swirling vortex of terrible emotions. Yesterday, standing down in borrowed seats in 125, I alternated between screaming on almost every Chiefs snap, cheering wildly on Seattle's few positive plays, and mostly just being silently stunned, on the verge of tears (or a panic attack). I deluded myself that we could still win, even when we were down 35-24 with 10 minutes left, but that slim, false hope was pounded out of me with another final, punishing Chiefs TD drive.

Kansas City whipped our collective asses yesterday. Yes, you can point to positives like two blocked kicks, solid overall special teams play, and the continuing emergence of Ben Obomanu... but overall, this game kicked me out of dreamland, and forced me to admit this: The 2010 Seahawks are not a very good team.

I know many of you come here for an optimistic perspective, and I'm not saying that all hope is lost. Today's Seahawks aren't among the NFL elite, but that doesn't mean they can't improve over the final five games, or that they can't win the NFC West, or even that they can't shock us and still finish with a winning record. I'm still happy to spread the Word of Sobchak: "Nothing is Fucked, Dude."

However, we've reached the point where every game is a death struggle, even next week's tussle with the 1-10 Panthers. Of course we SHOULD win, but if we don't play better than we did against KC, Carolina could steal one from us. If that happens? Ugh. It's just too terrible to contemplate.

But this team is still 3-1 in the NFC West. They can still win their last two division games, and coupled with a win over the Panthers, get to 8-8. BMW and Colin Cole will eventually return, hopefully in time to help the Hawks claw back to the level of football Seattle displayed against San Diego and Chicago.

I put that quote from May up at the top mostly as a reminder to myself: After two years of agonizingly bad, demoralizing football from the Seahawks, an 8-8 finish would be measurable, significant progress. If that came along with an NFC West title and another banner to hang from the Qwest rafters? Awesome.

Right now, I feel like I have a boulder of sorrow sitting on my chest. It's going to be there all week, and I desperately hope the Seahawks can remove it with a win over Carolina. They can, but it won't happen automatically. Beat the Panthers, and there's still meaningful football in December. There'd be a winnable game against the detestable 49ers, and hopefully, a game for the NFC West title against the Rams at Qwest week 17.

In happier news, my little brother James Swinyard and his Kamiakin Braves are headed to the Washington State 3A Championship after beating Capital 45-18 on Saturday. The title tilt is against Bellevue at 4 pm Friday in the Tacoma Dome, and can be seen on TV in the Pacific Northwest on Fox Sports Northwest.

At the risk of offending my readers in Bellevue: GO BRAVES! :)