Winning the hard way

Normally, 3-6 teams eke out meager victories over weak opponents, then lie down meekly to accept defeat at the hands of stronger teams.

This Seattle team got to 3-6 the hard way, by clawing itself out of the pit Pete Carroll dug.

We fielded a team without a proven quarterback, with an offensive line too young to drink legally, and with a defense populated primarily by kids who can't watch an R-rated movie without their mommies.

We forfeited road games to chumps like San Francisco and Cleveland. We let Pittsburgh and Dallas humiliate us in their houses. We choked at home, allowing Atlanta and Cincinnati to defile Seahawks Stadium.

But on October 9th, Seattle limped into New York at 1-3 and stunned the division-leading Giants. Then, last Sunday, having slid to 2-6, the Seahawks astonished everyone by ripping the Ravens from their nest atop the AFC North.

What accounts for our team's ability to rouse itself to compete against seemingly impossible odds, but then lay eggs of odious putrescence when faced with more beatable opposition?


Postscript: Are the 49ers "chumps"?

In the fourth paragraph of the foregoing essay, I called the 49ers "chumps." Certainly, when Seattle saw them in Week One, few respected or feared San Francisco, then recovering from a 6-10 season.

Currently, at 8-1, the 49ers own the league's second-best record. Although half of their wins have come against weak competition (Cleveland, Philadelphia, Seattle, Washington), they have beaten several respectable opponents (Cincinnati, Detroit, the New York Giants, Tampa Bay).

At this point, it is hard to imagine San Francisco failing to win the division. Five of their remaining games come against feeble rivals from the NFC Worst: Arizona twice, St. Louis twice, and Seattle once.