RENTON, Wash. (AP) -Mike Holmgren could use a mulligan. This is not the way he wanted to go out.
His four-time defending NFC West champion Seahawks (1-4) are at the bottom of the division, tied for the worst start of his 17-year coaching career. His star quarterback is out indefinitely. The offense is malfunctioning, and the defense can’t stop anyone when it matters.
So is he reconsidering his declaration that this is his 10th and final season as Seattle’s coach? Wouldn’t he like to come back to complete what he calls the “unfinished business” of bringing Seattle its first Super Bowl title?
Holmgren just chuckles.
“I don’t think that’s my decision any more. I think we’ve kind of crossed that bridge,” he said with a smile this week while preparing to face Tampa Bay (4-2) on Sunday night.
“Interesting question, though.”
in Seattle.
He is calling 2009 his “sabbatical” from football. The former Seahawks general manager (1999-2002) has joked he wouldn’t mind being in a cushy executive’s chair, like his friend Bill Parcells has in Miami. But Wednesday, he left open the door to coaching again.
“When I say there’s a possibility of coming back, I’m not eliminating anything because I don’t know how I’m going to react,” he said.
Then he laughed again.
“There’s a possibility that in the year off life is so good that I just might want to ride my motorcycle all the time and go to the beach,” he said. “My feeling is, I’ve worked so hard most of my life I will get a little antsy and my feeling is (wife) Kathy, as much as she loves me, will probably want me out of the house.
“(I’ll) be open for – if I choose to and if anyone’s interested – work somewhere.”
The self-described eternal optimist then scolded “the doom-and-gloom group” for already believing this season is lost. He believes once they get healthy, the Seahawks are capable of a run to their sixth consecutive playoff berth.
“What (Holmgren’s) done here … has afforded this organization to make a smooth transition, to be seamless, to be non-chaotic,” team president Tim Ruskell said in January.
So much for smooth and non-chaotic. Holmgren and Ruskell never imagined this:
tely with a back ailment, to injuries.
-Being forced to start a third-string quarterback (Charlie Frye) and a receiver (Koren Robinson) whom they had cut in 2005 because of troubles with alcohol.
-Having a defense that returned 11 starters give up Seattle’s most points through five games (151) since its expansion year of 1976.
-Starting 1-4 for the first time since 2002, the Seahawks’ last losing season.
Now, instead of a glorious swan song of a final season, Holmgren is answering whether his players may soon give up on him.
“Do you run the risk of guys losing heart? Yeah, I suppose that’s possible,” Holmgren said. “But this is a pretty good group. They are professionals. There are good leaders on the football team.
“I’m really not too worried about that. It’s my job to keep them going. When you are losing, then you really earn your money.”
The Seahawks are carefully orchestrating this unique transition by largely ignoring it until next year. Mora’s only words on it was in a quote in a team news release the day he was announced as the next coach. Only Ruskell and Holmgren sat to answer questions about it.
Ask Mora anything about 2009 now and the answer is the same: “No, no, no. I am only thinking about (insert upcoming opponent).”
to the essence of how players really feel about this swan song season for their coach.
“Truthfully, the nature of our job we lose teammates and coaches all the time. It really is the bad part of this business,” Hasselbeck said in August.
Holmgren has 171 victories for Green Bay and Seattle, one from passing Joe Gibbs for 10th place on the NFL’s list of coaching wins. All the coaches ahead of Holmgren on the list who, like him, have won an NFL championship, are in the Hall of Fame. The exception is Bill Parcells at No. 9 with 183 wins, who probably isn’t enshrined because he keeps returning to coaching.
“The Hall of Fame business, I always smile when I get mentioned,” Holmgren said. “I have never viewed myself in that category.
“I look at those guys and go, ‘Wow!”’
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