Seahawks' Rally Dumps Bears

Comebacks or blowouts, Green Bay Packers or Seattle Seahawks, Mike Holmgren knows how to beat the Chicago Bears.

Holmgren's domination of the Bears continued Sunday as the Seahawks rallied for the 14-13 victory on two fourth-quarter touchdowns. It was the 11th straight victory over the Bears for Holmgren, who was 12-2 against Chicago with the Packers.

"Stick to the plan Mike implements, because it's going to be flawless," said former Packer Derrick Mayes, whose 34-yard touchdown reception cut Chicago's lead to 13-7 with 13:04 left in the game.

Rookie Brian Gowins, kicking because Jeff Jaeger has a nagging hip injury, had the distance, but the kicked sailed wide right.

"I've got the guillotine hanging over my neck, I'm well aware of that," Gowins said. "I hit the ball well and nine times out of 10, that ball is going to go in. This time, it didn't."

It's almost unfair, this mastery Holmgren has on the Bears. Even when his streak seems shaky the Seahawks managed just 27 yards of total offense in 26 plays and were down 10-0 at halftime the Bears aren't safe.

Sure enough, as the minutes ticked off, the Seahawks got better. They gained 316 yards of total offense in the second half and held the Bears to 160 yards. After Foley connected with Mayes, the defense forced the Bears to punt. Then Fabien Bownes, released by the Bears n the final preseason cut, burned his old team with the game-winning 49-yard TD reception with 7:51 left.

"This reminds me of the first time I was able to sit in this locker room and say I beat the Bears," said a contented-looking Holmgren.

Foley, playing because Jon Kitna's right big toe was still bothering him, was 18-of-30 for 283 yards. Mayes caught seven passes for 137 yards. Ricky Watters, who had just 21 yards rushing last week, ran for 99 yards on 23 carries.

Seattle safety Merton Hanks, playing in his first game after being cut by the San Francisco 49ers, sacked Shane Matthews for a loss of 11 yards.

"It's really, really sorely needed," Watters said. "A lot of teams find a way to lose. We found a way to win."

As for the Bears, they can blame their own mistakes for the loss. Curtis Enis fumbled at the Seattle 2 on the first drive of the game. Gowins missed a 50-yard field goal on the next drive.

Enis also dropped a pass on third down, forcing the Bears to settle for a 43-yard field goal and the 13-0 lead at the end of the third quarter. And on Seattle's second scoring drive, cornerback Walt Harris bit on Foley's pump fake, leaving Bownes with a clear run to the end zone.

"We have to learn to close people out," Curtis Conway said. "We're beating ourselves. They didn't know what we were doing. We just killed ourselves."

Enis matched his career high with 94 yards rushing, and Matthews was 22-of-42 for 212 yards.

While Holmgren was happy with the victory, his first since leaving the Packers to become the coach and general manager at Seattle, he'll probably be less than pleased when he watches the game film. The Seahawks gave up 70 yards on eight penalties, one of his pet peeves.

Except for Watters, the offense was almost nonexistent in the first half. Foley also was sacked five times in the first half by a team who didn't even know what a pass rush was last season.

The Bears' first score came courtesy of Seahawks punter Jeff Feagles, who lost control of the ball just as he was about to punt. The Bears got the ball at the Seahawk 31, and five plays later, Enis rushed two yards for the score to give the Bears a 7-0 lead with 10:20 left in the half.

"The first half was ugly, it was really ugly," Holmgren said. "But how we won the game after really noplaying well in the first half really makes this good for our team."

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