| 24 July 2009
Well Addicts, here we are again 6 days from the start of another era in Seahawks history. 14 years ago, we were on the cusp of another coaching change. Dennis Erickson was about to take over the team from the absolute worst coaching regime in Seahawk history. Tom Flores under the Ken Behring ownership had driven the franchise into the ground and most of us fans were ecstatic to see Dennis Erickson coming from the University of Miami where he won two national championships to take over the team. Although faring better than Flores, Erickson still was unable to do better than average 8 - 8 over 4 years and miss the playoff's every season. Seattle seemed doomed to be the poster child for the prototypical losing franchise in the NFL.
New owner Paul Allen had seen enough by 1999 and the next era was ushered in with the exciting news that he had enticed Mike Holmgren to leave the Green Bay Packers whom he had taken to two Super Bowls to come to Seattle and straighten out the franchise. Holmgren arrived in Seattle amid great expectations and indeed in his first season had guided the franchise to an 8 - 2 start after 10 games. They lost 5 out of the last 6 games and finished 9 - 7 and were defeated in the wild card round by Miami. The next three years, Holmgren didn't do any better than Erickson had done and rumblings were afoot that after 4 years, he essentially had an identical record to Erickson and should be fired.
Allen stayed the course with Holmgren and in 2003, the Seahawks finally posted a 10 - 6 record under Matt Hasselbeck whom Holmgren had acquired from Green Bay and after going an impressive 8 - 0 at home, they were defeated in Green Bay in the wild card round of the playoff's. Hasselbeck uttered his famous line "we want the ball and we're gonna score" at the coin flip going into overtime. It was only Holmgren's second playoff appearance in 5 years and there were still people wanting Holmgren’s head. In 2004, Seattle won the first of 4 straight NFC West titles and in 2005, won their first playoff game since 1984 compiling their franchise best 13 - 3 record and going to the Super Bowl for the first time. Holmgren would win playoff games in 2006 and 2007 and become Seattle's all time winningest head coach. At the end of the 2007 season, Holmgren announced his retirement from Seahawk football effective at the conclusion of the 2008 season in which everyone had high hopes of another Super Bowl appearance. Instead, the Seahawks compiled the second worst season record of all time at 4 - 12 and the Holmgren era ended in disaster. When it was over, Holmgren had taken the Seahawks to 5 straight years of going to the playoffs and 4 straight years of being division champions.
Now we sit on the proverbial eve of yet another new chapter in Seahawk history about to unfold. This time, Jim Mora will try his hand at guiding the Seahawks to glory and success. Young, energetic, and charismatic, Mora has made bold promises of Seattle laying down a suffocating defense and an opportunistic offense that will take what the opposing team's defense give them and capitalize on it. Unleashing a new so called "West Coast Defense" that will reputedly make use of current players talents rather than try to fit them into a pre-conceived mold, Mora has brought in new coordinators and position coaches that share his brand of high intensity and enthusiasm and by all appearances, that feeling has trickled down to the players who are showing the same eagerness to get the new season under way.
Long time fans will remember the previous excitement when the team was about to embark on a new path under a new leader. Right now, everything seems possible and the indications are that the Seahawks will take back the West and continue their dominance of the division. It's a great time to be a Seahawk fan and in the coming week, writers here at SA will do our best to prepare you Addicts for the beginning of the Mora era starting in just 6 days. I just wanted to take you back down memory lane for a brief remembrance of how we got to this point in time. Stay tuned!
Hasta,
BillT
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