Seattle will wait to party

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The champagne will have to wait until after dark, which is probably best for everyone anyway.

No corks will be popped in this Southern city, nor will there be any dancing in the visitors locker room at the Tennessee Titans’ stadium.

If there is celebration today, it will not begin until the Seattle Seahawks get home. And home is the precise reason for all the excitement.

The Seahawks (11-2) can take a very huge step toward their most Super goal today by clinching home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. That would require a win over Tennessee, combined with a Chicago loss to Atlanta, to guarantee Seattle the top seed in the NFC.

The delayed celebration comes from the fact that Chicago (9-4) and Atlanta don’t kick off until 5:30 p.m. PST in a nationally televised game. Not until the end of that game will the Seahawks know whether they’ve wrapped up the top seed.

“If we win, we can become a fan,” said safety Michael Boulware, whose Seahawks face the Titans today at 10 a.m. PST. “We’ll cheer for Atlanta and hope they do well. But we’ll still have to go back to work, no matter what happens. We can’t let up until the end of the year.”

Seattle leads Chicago, Carolina and Tampa Bay by two games with three to go. But only the Bears would still be alive in the event of a Seahawks win because Seattle has the tiebreaker on both the Panthers and Buccaneers. Chicago has an 8-1 conference record, trailing Seattle’s 10-1 mark in the NFC, but could still catch the Seahawks in that tiebreaker.

A win would give the Seahawks a 12-2 overall record, meaning the only way Chicago could earn the top seed would be to beat Atlanta tonight, then win at Green Bay and Minnesota while watching Seattle lose to Indianapolis and the Packers. That scenario would leave the Seahawks and Bears with similar 12-4 overall records, but the Bears would take the tiebreaker by virtue of an 11-1 conference record. The loss to Green Bay would leave Seattle at 10-2 in the NFC.

On thing a Seahawks win today would clinch is a first-round bye – regardless of the Chicago-Atlanta outcome. Then the Seahawks would be just one more win, or a Chicago loss, away from wrapping up home-field advantage throughout the postseason. That would give Seattle the opportunity to host as many as two games leading up to the Feb. 5 Super Bowl in Detroit.

The importance of home-field advantage cannot be ignored, but it’s no guarantee for success. Not since 1993 have the top seeds from both the NFC and AFC made it all the way to the Super Bowl. In fact, since the playoff format expanded to include six teams from each conference in 1990, there have been as many seasons that have seen neither top seed make the Super Bowl (in 1992 and 1997) as there have been when both top seeds made it (Washington and Buffalo in 1991; Dallas and Buffalo in 1993).

That being said, the top seeds in the NFC have gone 24-6 at home under the current playoff format, advancing to nine Super Bowls in 15 years. Overall, home teams have won 72 percent (108-42) of their postseason games during the same span.

“It’s important,” linebacker Kevin Bentley said of earning home-field advantage for the playoffs. “I don’t know our record at home (it’s 7-0 this season), but we’ve been pretty good at home. For someone to have to travel all the way across the world to play us – that’s what it seems like – that gives us that much more of an advantage.”

Of course, it’s hard to overlook the fact that Seattle has lost its last two home playoff games – not to mention its last six postseason games overall.

If there is reason to believe that this year’s team could be any different, it’s that it has the opportunity to be the first Seahawks team to enter the playoffs as the top seed. It could also match a franchise-record 12 wins with a victory today.

“All that’s good stuff,” Holmgren said. “But the ultimate goal is still the Super Bowl. The only coaching staff or organization that feels real great at the end of the year is the team that won the Super Bowl.”

Before they start focusing on the playoffs, the Seahawks have to dispatch Tennessee. While the Titans (4-9) fell out of playoff contention during a recent five-game losing streak, they might finally have their ship pointed in the right direction. Tennessee has won two of its past three games – albeit against NFL laughingstocks San Francisco and Houston.

“This is a team right now that I don’t think wants the season to end,” Titans coach Jeff Fisher said last Wednesday. “They want to keep playing, they’re having so much fun.”

The Seahawks are also having fun, despite the pressures that come with having the top record in the NFC. Seattle could relieve a lot of stress today, after which its final two games might be meaningless.

“It’s nice because everywhere you go, people are excited and want to talk about the Seahawks,” offensive lineman Robbie Tobeck said. “I ran into somebody (Tuesday) night who told me they just bought their playoff tickets. That’s neat. There’s a real sense that we’re bringing something to this area.

“But on the other hand, you don’t want to let them down.”