No Forward Progress

With his Seahawks unable to score and unsure how to handle his rebukes, Mike Holmgren may see his dream job become a nightmare

The Seattle Seahawks' passing game was a no-show, and the Big Show wasn't happy. That summed up the sorry state of affairs on Sunday at Husky Stadium, where Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren—once the director of some of football's most appealing aerial spectacles and now the owner of his profession's most overblown nickname—had just trudged off the field following a 27-3 defeat by the Philadelphia Eagles. Holmgren's temper is notoriously short, and if ever a team's performance deserved his wrath, this one did. Not only had Seattle failed for the second straight game to score its first touchdown of 2001, but also Holmgren's handpicked quarterback, Matt Hasselbeck, had produced a mere 21 net passing yards. Many of the 62,826 fans headed for the parking lots and docks alongside Lake Washington at halftime, and some of those who stuck around vented their anger by chanting the name of backup quarterback Trent Dilfer.

As Holmgren entered the locker room, his players fell silent and awaited the inevitable: The Big Show was ready to blow like nearby Mount St. Helens. According to two players' accounts, Holmgren began by saying, "I don't know if I've ever been part of a passing game that was as bad as ours was today." He took a long pause before calmly resuming. "Listen, you heard how everyone was chanting for Trent. Well, today they were all over Matt, but that could've been any one of you guys—and when we lose, we lose as a team."

Then Holmgren told his players exactly how he felt about those fans: "F—- them." Many of the players, still stung by a rebuke from Holmgren in a heated meeting after a 38-31 loss to the Denver Broncos last fall, breathed a sigh of relief.