Seahawks could have, should have ... but didn't

The officials blew it.

Again.

Then the Seahawks blew it.

Almost never.

Then Pete Carroll blew it.

Is this a new habit?

And of all people, Russell Wilson also blew it.

Impossible.

And so the San Francisco 49ers stumbled out of Century Link Field as the NFC West champions with a 26-21 victory that Seattle fans will always believe never should have happened.

The last series of downs in this insane game proved that sometimes, nobody knows what’s going on — except maybe 49ers linebacker Dre Greenlaw, who drilled Jake Hollister inches short of the goal line on the final play.

But the officials?

That frozen replay gang in New York?

Carroll and the Seattle bench?

Wilson?

Not one of them had a clue, or the Seahawks would have pulled off an improbable victory after trailing 13-0 at halftime and looking like they’d be blown out of their own building.

FOR ALL of that, and the 49ers’ amazing combination of talent and resistance, the Seahawks SHOULD have won the game.

Unfortunately, everyone seemed to lose their minds at once.

The worst happened after Wilson threw a perfect fourth-down dart to seventh-round draft choice John Ursua, who made a brilliant catch — his first in the NFL — for 11 yards to San Francisco 1-yard line.

There was about a half-minute to play and the place was going bonkers.

With the clock ticking under 30 seconds after the Ursua catch (which gave the Hawks a first down), tackle John Fant was still on the ground upfield after taking a hit.

With the Hawks out of timeouts, the 260-pound Fant lumbered and struggled back down the field and into formation — at which point Wilson, instead of just trying a quick QB sneak with 23 seconds remaining against the disorganized 49ers …

Spiked the ball to stop the clock.

That might not have been the worst idea of Russell’s career, but it was up there. He could see Fant would get into position, and he needed less than a yard.

GO!

Nope.

IF WILSON and Carroll had made mistakes earlier (Pete called a fourth-down play in the first half that was among the worst of his career), they utterly outdid themselves after Russ spiked the ball.

Who knows what Carroll was hollering into Wilson’s helmet at that point?

Pete clearly wanted to get Marshawn Lynch into the game, but it was all taking too long.

There was lots of staring back and forth between field and bench until …

Unbelievably …

The Seahawks were called for delay of game.

You can argue whether that goof was more inexcusable than not giving Lynch the ball way back in the 2015 Super Bowl, but as brain locks go it was close.

So suddenly, instead of being two feet from winning the game, the Seahawks were six yards away.

What the hell?

It’s not like Carroll and Wilson haven’t been in this situation before.

How in the world do you take a delay of game penalty less than a yard from the NFC West title?

NOW WE get to the traditional blown call.

In the madness of the last few plays as the Seahawks first looked done, then that they were set to win, then that they’d shot themselves in the foot and so on, maybe one play was missed by a lot of fans.

Of course it was a pass interference, and it likely would have handed Seattle the game.

OK, officials on the field can get blocked out. Maybe, incredibly, no one saw it.

But the replay crew in New York, with their zillion screens and immediate looks, had no excuse.

Before the Ursua play, Wilson threw over the middle to Hollister, who was blatantly tackled while trying to make a catch.

It was pass interference, the clock should have been stopped, first down awarded at the 1-yard line, and the Seahawks should never had been in chaos mode.

This blown-call thing is now part of every NFL game, and it’s just ridiculous.

In this case, it likely decided a division championship.

So the bottom line is that completely missed interference call, along with a string of incredible time-management gaffes by the Seahawks, left the crowd and millions of viewers watching fourth down.

Wilson hit Hollister inside the 5, and it looked like he’d score, but Greenlaw made a picture-perfect tackle that gave Jake no chance to push the ball over the goal line.

The ball was inches away from the end zone, and it was reviewed, and this time the replay crew got it right.

So the Seahawks become a limping wild card.

See ya in Philly.

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Steve Cameron’s “Cheap Seats” columns for The Press appear on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. He also contributes the “Zags Tracker” package on Gonzaga basketball each Tuesday.

Steve’s various tales from several decades in sports — “Moments, Memories and Madness” — run on Sundays.