Hawks top Chicago, barely: Team off to best start in franchise history

These edge-of-your-seat, fist-clenching, heart-in-your-throat games are getting old.

Either that, or they are just becoming the norm for the Seahawks at home this season. The common denominator in such games, however, is that the Seahawks have emerged as winners in all three close home contests, and they pulled out another one yesterday with a 24-17 victory over the Chicago Bears at Seahawks Stadium.

First was the come-from-behind 24-23 win over St. Louis four weeks ago. Then came another rally for victory, 20-19 over San Francisco last week. And then there was yesterday, a game that probably shouldn't have been as close as it was, but necessitated a big play in order for the Seahawks to win and continue their success in 2003.

That big play was running back Shaun Alexander's 25-yard touchdown run with 58 seconds left in the game. And after rookie cornerback Marcus Trufant assured victory with an interception on the Bears' last-ditch drive, the Seahawks basked in the glow of being 5-1 for the first time in franchise history.

"I knew we had a great team coming into this year, and if you told us back in July that we were going to be 5-1, that's great," linebacker Anthony Simmons said. "We knew we could win. I don't think we expected to be 5-1, but it's great and here we are."

The Seahawks remained undefeated at home this season (4-0) but almost blew a 17-6 lead to a 1-4 opponent. The Bears tied the score at 17 with a 1-yard touchdown run by fullback Stanley Pritchett with 4:15 to play, and quarterback Chris Chandler — an ex-Washington Husky — added a two-point conversion with a gutsy scramble and dive into the end zone.

That set the stage for the Seahawks' Mr. Touchdown, Alexander. The drive for the winning score was almost as impressive as Alexander's individual effort.

Quarterback Matt Hasselbeck ran up the middle for 7 yards, absorbing a hard hit from the Bears' Alex Brown and Lance Briggs. Then Hasselbeck completed a 7-yard pass to tight end Itula Mili for a first down at the Seattle 42, Mili's only catch of the day.

The Seahawks' offensive line took over from there. Alexander ran around the left side for 9 yards, followed by fullback Mack Strong up the middle for 5 and another first down. Alexander gained 14 more behind left tackle Walter Jones and left guard Steve Hutchinson, and the Seahawks were at the Bears 30 with 1:14 to play and in good shape for a field-goal try.

Except Jones was called for illegal use of hands, backing up the Seahawks 10 yards. The Seahawks got it all back and more when Chicago cornerback Charles Tillman was called for pass interference, moving the ball to the Chicago 25.

The Bears were reeling, a throng of their fans in the club seats screaming at the officials. Then the Seahawks lowered the boom.

Alexander took a pitch and looked to go inside, but found a seam created by Strong, Jones and Hutchinson on the left side yet again. He hit the hole, got into the clear, faked out safety Mike Brown and pranced into the south end zone in front of the most rabid of Seahawks fans.

"Actually, I was just freelancing," Alexander said. "It was one of those things where we were trying to push the pile, and I thought, 'If everybody's in there, I'm just going to go outside and see what happens.' And it worked out."

Alexander scored his fifth rushing touchdown of the season on what was also his longest run of 2003. It seemed fitting, as Alexander gained 50 of his 101 rushing yards on that final drive after being held to minimal gains for much of the afternoon.

"We just had to bang at them for a long time," Alexander said.

"I was holding that play back for the right moment," Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren said. "It was a designed play to go inside and give the appearance that we were doing that, and then pop it outside.

"I'm aging as we speak," a relieved Holmgren said during postgame news conference. "Goodness gracious, we make it interesting. Our fans are getting their money's worth, that's for sure."

The Seahawks trailed 3-0 before Alexander capped off a nine-play, 65-yard drive with a 1-yard touchdown run. The drive included three Bears penalties.

Seattle built on their lead following Simmons' interception of a Chandler pass off the hands of tight end Desmond Clark. Simmons returned his second interception of the season 33 yards to the Bears 20, and three plays later, Hasselbeck connected with wide receiver Bobby Engram for a 25-yard touchdown pass.

The Bears made it 14-6 on the second of three Paul Edinger field goals, but would have been down by more had Brown not intercepted a Hasselbeck pass in the back of the end zone with 15 seconds left in the first half. In the fourth quarter, a fumble by Seattle's Koren Robinson after a catch set up Chicago for a 13-play, 67-yard drive for the tying touchdown.

The Bears took 14 minutes, 15 seconds off the clock on two scoring drives in the third and fourth quarters. But they couldn't stop the Seahawks, nor Alexander, when it mattered most.

"We don't care what happened in the first 45 minutes of a game, the last 15 are ours," Alexander said. "Sometimes it goes down to the last five."

"We can win by one or we can win by 41, but it's in the books as a W," Strong said, "and that's something we haven't had a whole lot of as a team around here."

José Miguel Romero: 206-464-2409 or jromero@seattletimes.com