Put Mirer Aside Before Franchise Packs Up And Leaves

The fans who showed up at the Kingdome proved they love professional football.

Unfortunately, they didn’t get to see any Sunday.

Yes, the Seahawks and the New York Jets engaged in a football-like activity - something above Sega but below the NFL in terms of realistic action.

It leads one to wonder how much longer football - even at this level of play - will be available to them.

That’s a threat created by the volatile combination of itchy ownership, a shaky stadium situation and an unsettled economic environment in the league.

And maybe, too, by ineffective quarterbacking.

In some ways, this may have been the most crucial game of the season. A win would have meant at least being a pencil drawing in the early playoff picture.

Anything to stimulate fan fervor is critical now, at a time when the team’s owners are rattling the keys to the moving van every time they talk to county officials about the condition of the Kingdome.

A team that is in the playoff hunt might cause fans (and county voters) to urge it not to leave. But with Sunday’s lackluster 16-10 loss to the worst team in the league, the Hawks might have caused followers to volunteer to help load up the truck.

Don’t think they’d move? Believe this: owner Ken Behring is not even remotely as attached to Seattle as Art Modell was to Cleveland.

Money talked to Modell.

It has only to whisper to Behring.

Certainly, no loss can ever be hung on the shoulders of an individual. But the most visible Seahawk - quarterback Rick Mirer - once again, had the most visible shortcomings.

Mirer is a man so likable, so earnest in his efforts, so competitive, and so deeply upset by his mistakes, that the tendency - even among cynical writers - is to believe that he can turn it all around. To suggest that he can live up to being the second player taken in the draft, that he can be worth the $15 million contract he signed.

But evidence is piling up against him.

In fact, if Mirer were having even an average season - or perhaps, if savvy backup John Friesz were given more playing time - Seattle legitimately could have won at least three more games and stood 8-4 now.

In a 14-10 loss to San Diego, Mirer had two passes picked off deep in Charger territory on what should have been scoring drives.

At Arizona, Mirer threw two interceptions on just two passes in a Seattle overtime loss.

Sunday, Mirer overthrew open receivers four times on what could have been touchdown plays. Three of those were intended for speedy rookie Joey Galloway.

“It’s my job to throw it in front and let him go get it,” Mirer said. “If I’m going to miss, I’m going to miss in front of him. I’ve talked myself into throwing far and letting him go get it, and it doesn’t always time out right.”

Sure, but some throws were 10 yards too long. And one, when Robb Thomas was alone in the end zone in the second quarter, didn’t even come with 15 yards of reaching him.

The fans, understandably, have wearied of this and booed Mirer regularly.

It’s their prerogative. Comes with the ticket to a big-league game.

But those boos penetrate directly to the heart of Mirer.

“We’re not supposed to care, but it sucks,” Mirer said. “I guess we’re not humans to a lot of people. We’re doing this for keeps and it’s important, but it doesn’t always work.”

Seahawk coach Dennis Erickson spread the blame across the board, sparing his quarterback.

“It wasn’t just the quarterback, there was a lot of other things involved,” Erickson said. “We just didn’t play very well anyplace offensively; it was just a mess.”

As the cameras and tape recorders closed in on Mirer in front of his locker, he managed a smile and cracked: “Oh, this is a lot of fun.”

Obviously, it isn’t. But he stands in the media pocket and admirably takes the heat.

And it’s this toughness that makes it difficult to report this, but right now, after nearly three seasons, Rick Mirer is not substantially better than he was as a rookie.

Last week in Washington, with no timeouts and the clock waning in the first half, Mirer took off on a scramble rather than throwing the ball out of bounds and preserving a field-goal possibility. He was tackled and the half ended.

This is what is so baffling: Mirer is clearly an extremely intelligent man who grew up with football as a cradle language, seeing that his father was a coach, but he continues to make rookie mistakes.

So it seems that his role as anchor of the franchise should be reevaluated before paying out more than $3 million in bonuses that will trigger the final two years of his contract.

Maybe, finally, sadly, it’s time to say that Mirer simply isn’t working out.

, DataTimes The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Dave Boling The Spokesman-Review