A Season of Change for Holmgren

Mike Holmgren has lost before.

But it has been a while.

“Sacred Heart. I was an assistant. We lost 22 games in a row,” said Holmgren, 3-7 in his second season as coach and general manager of the Seattle Seahawks.

That would be Sacred Heart High in San Francisco, in the early 1970s.

“We went against some pretty good people, though,” Holmgren said. “Dan Fouts and Lynn Swann and those guys were playing for other Catholic schools against us.”

Holmgren has never had a losing season in the NFL. This all but certainly will be the first.

The San Francisco 49ers won two Super Bowls while Holmgren was an assistant from 1986-91.

During his eight seasons as coach of the Green Bay Packers, he reached the Super Bowl twice, defeating New England in Super Bowl XXXI.

Holmgren left because he yearned to run his own show.

“Be careful what you pray for,” he said with a laugh.

In his first season as coach and general manager, the Seahawks went 9-7 and made the playoffs for the first time in 11 years.

Then Holmgren overhauled the team.

Now he has quarterback problems, no real deep-threat receiver and a defense that lost some of its best players and added a free-agent bust in safety Reggie Tongue, who isn’t even starting.

“We’re going through some growing pains and there’s a transition period,” Holmgren said. “I thought our record at this point would be better than it is.

“But in really being honest in evaluating the team in the off-season, I really believed there clearly had to be some fairly dramatic things done with the cap and with how the team was built, the players.

“I always said the trick is to do those things and not fall off the cliff.”

You can look over the edge and see the Seahawks on the way to the canyon floor.

“Unless we can win some games down the stretch, we’re going to have a not very good record,” Holmgren said. “But I did what I felt we had to do, so then we start putting the pieces back into place next year.”

That will start at quarterback.

Jon Kitna played well enough last season but threw four interceptions in an awful 54-yard performance against Miami in the opening game this season and has a 67.9 passer rating.

Holmgren thought Brock Huard might be his next quarterback, but Huard has been limited by the effects of a concussion and has played only four games.

With no indication that Huard is the answer, Holmgren probably will be looking for a quarterback in the off-season--St. Louis’ Trent Green and Washington’s Brad Johnson are among those probably available, so the choices are good ones.

“We have to decide on a quarterback,” Holmgren said. “Is that somebody here? I don’t know. We’ve got to solve that situation.”

Seattle also has two first-round draft picks--one from the trade that sent receiver Joey Galloway to Dallas. But Holmgren probably would look for a veteran instead of trying to develop, say, Purdue’s Drew Brees or Florida State’s Chris Weinke.

The Seahawks still need a replacement for Galloway, who disrupted the team last season with his holdout and isn’t playing in Dallas this season after injuring his knee in the first game.

Seattle also needs to shore up a defense that saw sack-leader Phillip Daniels sign with Chicago and defensive tackle Sam Adams sign with Baltimore.

Second-guessing?

“You know, believe me, I’ve thought a lot about it,” Holmgren said. “Phillip Daniels was a real solid player for us. As it turned out, we couldn’t have paid him what the Bears paid him [$25 million over five years with an $8-million signing bonus]. I thought he certainly could help us this season. But we couldn’t have done it. That can happen to you in free agency at times.

“All the other changes were changes we probably would have made anyway. Now did that weaken our team in some areas? Probably.

“But we made a decision. For so long here, it’s been kind of .500, 7-9. To me, that’s just surviving. And I don’t want to just survive. And the players wouldn’t. Heck, your goal is to get to the Super Bowl.

“So we made some tough decisions. There’s no question it’s affected us this year. But I think in the long haul, it will pay off.”

It’s Holmgren’s show, all right. But is that everything it’s cracked up to be?

“This is a great job. I’m enjoying it,” he said. “The losses are tough on Sunday. But the enthusiasm, the renewed energy I feel, it’s great. I have very good people now in the organization that I trust and rely on, and that allows me to do both jobs.

“You know, people get a job like this and it’s mentioned how you need control and all this power. Really, to me, it was a new challenge, and I’ve always run my life that way.

“I had a wonderful position and job at Green Bay. The only way I’d ever have left there is to try this. And I’m liking it. We’ll see.

“Time will tell if it works.”

RUSSELL REVIVAL

Darrell Russell made the Pro Bowl in two of his first three seasons but has been one of the Oakland Raiders’ biggest disappointments this season.

He turned that around with his best game against Kansas City on Sunday, when he had 1 1/2 sacks in an aggressive performance marred only by a roughing-the-passer penalty that sustained a Chief touchdown drive.

“I’m definitely mad. I’m not an underachiever,” said Russell, who had only one sack in the first eight games.

“A lot of coaches were concerned, [Coach Jon] Gruden was concerned,” Russell said of the defensive front.

A visiting lecturer helped turn things around.

“Deacon Jones was in town,” Russell said. “He came to talk to us. That was inspirational. He taught us the mentality of our position. How we’re supposed to play, how we’re supposed to get it done. I think that was a key.

“But we still gave up 31 points and we can’t do that if we’re going to get where we want to go.”

SNOWBALL’S CHANCE?

The Raiders return to Mile High Stadium on Monday night, a year after fans threw snowballs at the Raiders during a Bronco overtime victory and Oakland tackle Lincoln Kennedy went into the stands to confront a fan.

Bronco Coach Mike Shanahan called for fans to make noise--not snowballs--this time. (Two fans lost their season ticket privileges after last year’s incidents, which resulted in a number of arrests.)

Gail Stuckey, director of stadium operations, told the Denver Post that security personnel will be posted near the Raider tunnel and sideline.

“We hope for no snow,” she said.

The Raiders’ Charles Woodson, who denies a charge that he hit a fan with a snowball, recalled the situation as “ugly.”

“I was thinking, ‘Get to safety,’ ” he said. “You could see snowballs coming from the top row and when they hit the ground, they wouldn’t even break.”

The Raiders are focusing on the game. They haven’t won at Mile High since 1994, but a victory could just about secure the AFC West title.

ANOTHER ONE GETS THE BOOT

The Washington Redskins are on their fourth field-goal kicker of the season and their 11th of Norv Turner’s seven seasons as coach.

Whether Eddie Murray survives Turner is probably even money, although a recent Washington Post story quoted sources saying Turner won’t be fired before the end of the season.

Murray, 44, follows Kris Heppner, Michael Husted and Brett Conway this season.

Redskin kickers--only two for eight beyond 30 yards--rank 27th in the NFL in field-goal percentage.

500-YARD CURSE

Elvis Grbac’s 504-yard passing performance didn’t get much notice in the 49-31 loss to the Raiders.

That’s because much of the yardage came with Kansas City throwing on almost every down as it played catch-up in a game it once trailed by 25 points.

That’s often how it goes in 500-yard passing performances.

Of the eight players who have thrown for 500 yards in NFL history, half have lost the game--Miami’s Dan Marino, the New York Giants’ Phil Simms, the Los Angeles Rams’ Vince Ferragamo and Grbac.

The Rams’ Norm Van Brocklin set the NFL record of 554 yards in a 54-14 victory over the New York Yanks in 1951.

The others who have passed for 500 yards and won--Houston’s Warren Moon, Arizona’s Boomer Esiason, and the Giants’ Y.A. Tittle.