The Seahawks' Run in the NFC West Is Over

Yep, it's time to panic in Seattle. After a defensive performance against the defending Super Bowl champion New York Giants that made me want to puke, I think the Seahawks' four-year streak of being champs in the NFC West has come to an end.

Seattle could very well be 2-2 right now, after they blew a big lead in the San Francisco game, but a loss is a loss. Both the Cardinals and the 49ers are on the rise in the West, and the Seahawks are getting old and losing Mike Holmgren to retirement at the end of the season.

Holmgren's replacement will be Jim Mora Jr. Mora is currently the secondary coach...um, isn't it the secondary that has troubled the Seahawks in all three of their losses?

Kelly Jennings and Josh Wilson are both really inexperienced and have been so awful all season. As a Seattle fan, I just want to scream every time the Hawks get burned in the secondary. In Week One it was Lee Evans, in Week Two it was Isaac Bruce, and this week it was anybody that Eli Manning could find open.

There is a big problem with this team on the defensive side of the ball. The offense has looked all right, but putting up six points this week is not acceptable.

I feel bad for Matt Hasselbeck because he's fought through some back pain and got injured during Seattle's first series today, but he came back right after. Hasselbeck hasn't had a healthy receiving corps this year and still doesn't. In Deion Branch's first game back, he injured his heel.

Looking back at the trade for Branch back in 2006, I think it was a mistake. He's missed just about as many games due to injuries as he's started, and Seattle gave up a first round pick for him.

Going into the 2008 season, a lot of people expected the Seahawks to be one of the better teams in the NFC and without a doubt the best team in the NFC West.

They did a lot to rejuvenate a weak running game by cutting Shaun Alexander and signing Julius Jones and T.J. Duckett. This has helped, but now the D-line can't stop the run, and the secondary can't stop anything.

It's time to freak out in the Pacific Northwest and realize that there is a good chance that for the first time in five years, the Seahawks won't make the playoffs.

This seems to be a common trend throughout the NFL. In the AFC South, Indianapolis has started 2-2, while Tennessee improved to 5-0 on Sunday. The Patriots have Matt Cassel behind center, and the Chargers have stunk so far too. 

It's unfortunate that this will be Mike Holmgren's last season, and the Seahawks don't look anything like a team that Holmgren is a head coach of. The last time a Seahawks team led by Mike Holmgren started 1-3, they finished 7-9 and missed the playoffs. 

Seattle can't win on the East coast, or the road at all for that matter. I don't see them winning many more road games this year.

Hence, this will be a season of sitting out in the postseason for the Seahawks.