page_title: History of the Seattle Seahawks
section_title: 2004
hierarchical_section_title: History of the Seattle Seahawks / 1999–2008: The Mike Holmgren era / 2004
caption_attribution_description: English: w:Seattle Seahawks coach w:Mike Holmgren before a game.
context_page_description: The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team organized in 1976 and based in Seattle, Washington, US, that plays in the National Football League.
context_section_description: The Seahawks entered the 2004 season with lofty expectations.  Publications such as Sports Illustrated predicted that the team would represent the NFC in Super Bowl XXXIX.  The Seahawks started off strongly, going 3-0 including a 34–0 shutout of the lowly San Francisco 49ers at home.  The season took a dramatic turn for the worse, however, when the Seahawks blew a 27–10 lead late in the fourth quarter to their division-rivals, the St. Louis Rams.  Trailing 27-10 late in the fourth quarter, the Rams scored to pull within ten with 5:34 remaining on the clock.  This was followed by a 41-yard TD pass to Kevin Curtis, making the score 27–24.  After the Seahawks failed to convert on a critical third down, leaving 1:14 on the game clock, the Rams tied the game on the ensuing possession, sending the game into overtime.  In the extra period, the Rams won the game on a stunning 52-yard touchdown catch by Shaun McDonald.  The Seahawks never fully recovered from the shocking loss and went on to win only six of their last twelve games.
  The Seahawks had another memorable fourth quarter meltdown against the Cowboys on Monday Night Football. As Seattle led 39-28 late in the fourth quarter, Vinny Testaverde completed a touchdown pass to Keyshawn Johnson, leaving 1:45 on the game clock. Jason Witten recovered the ensuing onside kick, and Julius Jones was heavily featured in the Cowboys' 57-yard drive to win the game. Jones finished with a game-high 198 rushing yards for the night.
  The Seahawks won their first NFC West title with a 28–26 win over the Atlanta Falcons in the final regular season game. The team's celebrations were overshadowed by bickering between Holmgren and running back Shaun Alexander, stemming from Holmgren's decision to bench Alexander for precautionary reasons midway through the team's final game of the season. Alexander missed the 2004 rushing title by a single yard, with the honor instead going to New York Jets running back Curtis Martin.  The Seahawks ended their 2004 season by losing to the Rams 27–20 in the NFC Wild Card game, the first playoff game at Qwest Field, in what was their third loss to the Rams.
caption: Seahawks Head Coach Mike Holmgren in 2004.
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA", "Image Make": "OLYMPUS CORPORATION", "Image Model": "C750UZ", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Microsoft Windows Live Photo Gallery14.0.8117.416", "Image DateTime": "2012:02:09 00:06:36", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "2376", "Image PrintIM": "[80, 114, 105, 110, 116, 73, 77, 0, 48, 50, 53, 48, 0, 0, 20, 0, 1, 0, 20, 0, ... ]", "Image Padding": "[]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "6334", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "6369", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/200", "EXIF FNumber": "4", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Creative", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "50", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2004:09:26 12:30:14", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2004:09:26 12:30:14", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "2", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "17/5", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "104/5", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "498", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "351", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "5916", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "None", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF ImageUniqueID": "B95D1D408ED144349DC8C85EDB6E1789", "EXIF Padding": "[]", "EXIF OffsetSchema": "3652"}