Seahawks may like to Ty one on after defeat

SEATTLE – Tyrone Willingham is expected in town any day for his job interview.

But with whom – the Huskies or the Seahawks?

Now there’s an idea – perhaps Seahawks owner Paul Allen and University of Washington president Mark Emmert could go Dutch on the date and arm wrestle for first-dibs on the hire.

Or maybe Allen has a local candidate in mind – after all, Rick Neuheisel is tanned, rested and ready. Or maybe he’ll go with a more qualified candidate to figure out his football team.

Like Dr. Phil, or perhaps a strict Freudian.

This much is obvious: in the wake of the Seahawks’ meltdown on Monday Night Football against the Dallas Cowboys – which ended, against all odds, with a Hail Mary pass falling incomplete – the current sideline shrink, Mike Holmgren, has not answer one as to what’s inside his team’s collective head.

And that’s probably not a recommendation for continued employment.

The Seahawks saved their most confounding performance – possibly in the history of the franchise – for their return to MNF, though so dreadful was the game’s midsection that “Fear Factor” probably received a huge ratings spike.

And now Holmgren has his own fear factor, or two.

“It might prevent us from getting into the playoffs,” he acknowledged after the Hawks blew a 10-point lead in the last two minutes to lose 43-39. “Who knows?

”(We’ve had) two games you thought you had a chance to win and we couldn’t close the door – and it might end up hurting us in the end.”

Might prevent them from getting into the playoffs?

If the Seahawks as we currently know them get into the playoffs, it’d be the most convincing argument ever for the National Football League to go to a bowl system instead.

Yes, technically the Seahawks are tied for first in the ever-rugged NFC West, the Big East of the NFL, in which even the 1-10 San Francisco 49ers are not yet officially eliminated from a shot at a share of first place – though they would lose a tiebreaker.

Which, if memory serves, will be based on which team can keep a straight face longest.

But the Seahawks would lose a tiebreaker, too, if it involves St. Louis, which has stumped Seattle twice. Of course, they would be very much in the wild card picture – as would every other team in the NFC, plus the Cal Bears, Real Madrid or one of those other NFL Europe teams and even Gonzaga, which hasn’t had football in 63 years but surely could score on the Seahawks.

After all, Dallas pretty much scored at will and the Cowboys had topped 21 points exactly once all season. Indeed, the Cowboys’ four previous victories this season had come against teams with an aggregate record of 14-30.

Not that the Seahawks have beaten anyone with a pulse, either. John Madden would have considered a plane ride more appealing than this game.

And since it’s become obvious the Seahawks’ 3-0 start this season was fool’s gold, it’s just as true they haven’t been the same since that calamitous loss to St. Louis on Oct. 10.

“I thought I wouldn’t have to go through the Rams game all over again,” Holmgren said, “and this wasn’t quite as bad, but it hurts just as much.”

Not quite as bad?

Well, yes, and castor oil goes down easier than battery acid, but not much.

Actually, the phrase that comes to mind is “terribly entertaining.”

After looking terrific for a quarter in building a 14-3 lead, the Seahawks then surrendered 26 straight points, thanks to an assortment of fumbles, Holmgren hubris (a misbegotten fourth-down gamble) and an inability to stop Dallas running back Julius Jones, who had himself a 198-yard night.

It was at this point the “F” word could be heard in the stands – and by that we mean “fire,” though certainly the other one was getting a good workout, too.

For a time, it seemed as if the Qwest Field audience was voting to replace Holmgren with Lou Piniella, until it became obvious they were saying “Boooooooo!” and not “Loooooou!” At one point, Holmgren decided to challenge an obvious reception by Keyshawn Johnson, if only to redirect the catcalls toward the officials.

The lousy Seahawks hung around for a couple of quarters. Then the terrific ones returned. Matt Hasselbeck strafed the Dallas secondary, Jerry Rice conjured some of the old magic, and the Seattle DBs started spoiling the old mojo of another carbon-dated All-Star, Vinny Testaverde.

And, voila, they’d scored 25 straight points themselves.

“I felt pretty good when we were up by 10,” admitted Holmgren. “Let’s just say it – you should win those games.”

But then Johnson leaped over Terreal Bierria’s head for a sensational touchdown catch, the Cowboys pulled off the most perfect onsides kick in the history of football and the Seahawks lost the lead on a 17-yard draw play in which they were barely close enough to catch a whiff of Jones’ cologne.

On the sidelines, Seahawks running back Shaun Alexander watched in disbelief.

“I was actually calling the plays,” he said. “I was saying, ‘Here’s a draw,’ ‘Here’s a pass.’ I was thinking we were going to stop them. It never even crossed my mind that they were going to score again.”

Silly man.

“I have not been around too many like that,” said Dallas coach Bill Parcells. “That was unbelievable.

“We had two minutes and two timeouts. We were actually planning on kicking the field goal right away and try an onsides kick. But Keyshawn made that play and that gave us a chance. Once we got that, I knew we had a real shot, because we still had two timeouts.”

The Seahawks still have four games, but there is little evidence and even less hope that they’ll be able to correct what ails them because no one seems to know, least of all the coach.

“I’m not sure,” said Holmgren. “We’re our own worst enemy. I know I’ve said that before. We do some very good things and then we do some things that demonstrate a lack of maturity and cost us dearly.

“This was a huge football game for us, but the season’s not over by any stretch of the imagination.”

Oh, not so fast. The imagination was pretty much stretched to the breaking point Monday night. And patience, too.