By Mike Kahn
CBS SportsLine Executive Editor
Dec. 10, 1998

SEATTLE -- To most, it was just another faux pas in the blur of bad officiating in the NFL this season. To Seattle Seahawks coach Dennis Erickson, it meant another season out of the playoffs and virtual certainty he will be looking for a new job come 1999.

In

Related Links Seahawks Game Plan Audio: Erickson on loss in N.Y. Forum: Should Erickson be given another chance?

case you missed it, the Seahawks lost to the New York Jets 32-31 Sunday. The Jets scored with 20 seconds to go on a fourth-down quarterback sneak by Vinny Testaverde. Those watching on television knew he didn't cross the goal line.

Unfortunately, for Erickson and the Seahawks, the officiating crew didn't. NFL director of officiating Jerry Seeman called Erickson and apologized for the bad call, just as he has to the Buffalo Bills and Pittsburgh Steelers and countless other teams this season. Instant replay will be back. The linesman, evidently, mistook the Jets logo on Testaverde's helmet for the football. Tsk, tsk. But that's another story.

Besides, this is about a franchise that hasn't seen a playoff game since 1988.

NOW THE SEAHAWKS STAND 6-7, WITH very winnable home games against San Diego and Indianapolis preceding the season finale at Denver. At 7-6, they would have been in prime position for a wild card, judging by the schedules. Now they're finished.

"It's hard to deal with, but you have to," Erickson said. "It's part of life. We can't feel sorry for ourselves. We have to go on."

They will go on, but where? Chances are, this team will be 8-8, again. Just like they were last season, and just like they were in 1995. In between, they were 7-9. Ya think Erickson is a .500 coach?

"I've been around a lot of different teams and this staff just hasn't worked hard enough to prepare for games," one Seahawks source said. "They take a theory into a game and if it works, fine. If it doesn't, they can't adjust. That's not how you compete at the highest level of your sport."

It makes you wonder about Erickson, who was 113-40-1 as a college coach and won national titles in 1989 and 1991 at the University of Miami. Many people in South Florida refused to give Erickson credit, saying he only won because he had Jimmy Johnson's experienced recruits to play with when the latter took over as coach of the Dallas Cowboys. Erickson's 63-9 record during six seasons and two titles with the Hurricanes was unparalleled during that period, but he left the school in complete disarray. Chock full of recruiting violations, problematic players and a horrid reputation for thuggery, the rubble is still being cleaned up by his successor, Butch Davis.

ERICKSON CLAIMS HE WAS UNFAIRLY BLAMED. He also said he would never leave Miami, just as he said he would never leave Washington State for Miami.

Well,

Vinny Testaverde's phantom touchdown probably ended the Seahawks' playoff hopes, but their troubles began long before last Sunday. (Allsport)

there are no barriers preventing him from leaving the Seahawks. His widely reported problems with alcohol abuse in the past have been quieted, but the mediocre performance of the team is screaming of underachievement. Erickson has been claiming himself a victim many a time before and he was again Sunday. But the reason he won't coach the Seahawks next year didn't exactly come down to one play -- it's just symptomatic of the circumstances that have always made Erickson an advocate of the "Big Bang" theory. There is nothing steady about it. Just make the big plays, and you win.

It hasn't worked that way. It will work in a different manner for the Seahawks next season. The only question that looms is ... who will coach? Do they want to turn the whole program over to Mike Holmgren as he leaves the Packers? The word on the streets is Seahawks owner Paul Allen and president Bob Whitsitt have been happy with the development of Randy Mueller as vice president of operations.

Is it wise to pay Holmgren the $10 million or so it might require to make him GM and coach? There also is the prospect of George Seifert, now analyzing television, but with the potential additions of lame duck buddies Ray Rhodes (defensive coordinator) and Norv Turner (offensive coordinator) as an awesome package.

There are others. At the top of the heap of assistants is Gary Kubiak, who as offensive coordinator of the Denver Broncos could be headed to another Super Bowl. What about somebody else with experience, but with a nowhere franchise, like a Jeff Fisher? Fisher is languishing with the Tennessee Oilers, who have been going nowhere as a franchise except to three cities in three years.

REGARDLESS OF WHO COMES IN, AND YOU can bet Whitsitt won't be shy with the money when the coaching search begins, there will be a different aura about the Seahawks.

Despite all the free-agent talent Mueller has brought in over the past two seasons, plus some sharp movement in the draft via trades, the team remains mired in the muck of mediocrity. It is a reflection of Erickson's limitations and that's a shame. A graduate of nearby Everett High School, just as University of Washington coach Jim Lambright and Washington State coach Mike Price, this unlikely trifecta of the Pacific Northwest is about to be broken up.

Indeed, it was another horrid mistake by the officiating crew that ultimately cost the Seahawks a victory to stay alive. But was that the difference of Erickson keeping his job or not?

Don't believe it. It just makes Allen and Whitsitt's decision that much easier.