Holmgren uncertain about continuing coaching

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Seahawks Notebook: Holmgren to take time to decide on future

By CLARE FARNSWORTH

P-I REPORTER

GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Mike Holmgren isn't about to let his coaching career with the Seahawks end this way, is he?

If the Seahawks' 42-20 loss to the Green Bay Packers in their divisional playoff game at Lambeau Field on Saturday was the equivalent of shooting hoops in the backyard, this wasn't just a miss. It was an air ball.

After the game, Holmgren was asked what his plans are. He began by discussing his annual season-ending meeting with the players -- scheduled for Sunday -- and that one last news conference with reporters.

No, Mike. After that.

"Then Kath and I are going to take off for awhile, and let the dust settle," Holmgren said.

That has become another Holmgren postseason ritual the past few seasons -- getting away with his wife, Kathy, to discuss whether he still has the fire and passion it takes to get through another season, and also calm her concerns about the toll another season would have on his health.

"I tell you, it's hard when you lose," offered Holmgren, who has said repeatedly this season that the losses are harder for him to get over now.

Mike Urban / P-I Seahawks head coach Mike Holmgren watches the final moments of the fourth quarter fade with a layer of snow on the brim of his cap and headphones."The emotions of this sport make it great to play and coach. I've always said I'm one of the luckiest guys in the world. So you need some time. You need time to kind of get away from things a little bit and think clearly."

Club president Tim Ruskell has obliged Holmgren by giving him that get-away time to reflect on the season -- and the future. That will be no different this year.

The players, of course, want their coach to return for a 10th season with the Seahawks

"It's up to Mike to make that decision, but he's a very important part of this team," linebacker Julian Peterson said. "He's been coaching for a long time, and we just have to wait and see.

"This is a very emotional game. Week in and week out, you're going through ups and downs. It causes a lot of stress. We've got our prayers with him."

BRANCH, SCOBEY INJURED: If the Seahawks did have to play next week, they'd be doing it without wide receiver Deion Branch and special teams standout Josh Scobey.

Branch, who had missed the previous two games with a strained right calf, injured his left knee on the Seahawks' fourth offensive play. He was able to walk off the field, but was then taken to the locker room on a cart. Branch is scheduled to have a magnetic resonance imaging test either Sunday or Monday.

"It's a pretty good injury," is all Holmgren would say, with the "good" actually meaning bad.

Scobey broke his left fibula on the game-opening kickoff and is scheduled to have surgery to repair the damage.

THE FORECAST CALLED FOR ...: Snow flurries, not the near-blizzard conditions that made it difficult to see during the second half.

"I'm trying to think, when I lived here, if the weather people we so wrong," cracked Holmgren, who coached the Packers from 1992-98. "It was kind of an unusual game, weather-wise."

Even by Green Bay standards.

"It was getting tough to see people," said Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck, who spent his first three NFL seasons with the Packers. "More when the wind was coming into your eyes, it was tough. But they were playing under the same conditions, and they handled it pretty well."

Offered free safety Brian Russell, "There were definitely some visibility issues. But you just have to play a different brand of football. You start playing the receiver's hands, as opposed to trying to track the ball."

FAVRED: With the Packers facing a third-and-8 situation from the Seahawks 14-yard line late in the third quarter, Seahawks rookie defensive tackle Brandon Mebane seemingly had Packers quarterback Brett Favre wrapped up for a sack.

But Favre escaped, flipped an 11-yard pass to tight end Donald Lee and the Packers scored on the next play to take a 28-17 lead.

"I had him right in my arms and he slipped right out," Mebane said.

Mebane also was having problems with Favre's cadence on the snap count.

"He did some times I've never seen, or heard," he said. "It slows everything down for the defense."