Seattle wins West, makes playoffs with losing record

SEATTLE -- Pulled over his dapper shirt-and-tie combo, Leon Washington proudly wore a blue NFC West champion T-shirt and hat.

Coach Pete Carroll thought it was "pretty cool" to be going to the playoffs with a losing record.

Laugh all you want about the Seattle Seahawks reaching the postseason as champions of the NFL's weakest division -- with a 7-9 record.

But they're not going to be embarrassed for setting some dubious NFL history on their way to the playoffs.

The Seahawks became the first sub-.500 division champion with a 16-6 victory over the St. Louis Rams on Sunday night to win their first division title since 2007. They secured a home playoff date against defending Super Bowl champion New Orleans at 1:30 p.m. Saturday.

Seattle finished tied with St. Louis at 7-9, but won the NFC West title thanks to a better division record than St. Louis, 4-2 vs. 3-3.

"I guess we won for all the teams that have a losing record and think they can't be champions. It can get done, you can do it," Carroll said. "Somehow it happened."

Seattle safety Lawyer Milloy said, "There is no apologies for making it into the playoffs. The easiest way to make it to the playoffs is to win your division, period, point-blank. We did that."

Critics have gladly taken shots about the NFC Worst, er, West this season and reignited the debate whether division champs should automatically be granted home playoff games. The New York Giants and Tampa Bay have better records within the NFC at 10-6 and both clubbed Seattle this season.

But it's the Seahawks who are playoff-bound -- and hosting a playoff opener.

"It just shows that no matter what happens through an awkward year, if a team sticks together they can have a shot at the end to accomplish what they talked about in the beginning," Milloy said. "We know it wasn't pretty getting here, but what we talked about was right there at the end and we took advantage of it. No body can take that away from us."

Making his second career start, backup quarterback Charlie Whitehurst threw a 4-yard touchdown pass to Mike Williams on Seattle's first possession and kicker Olindo Mare connected on three second-half field goals.

That was more than enough thanks to a maligned defense that found some swagger just in time to rattle St. Louis rookie quarterback Sam Bradford and foil the Rams' feel-good turnaround from a year ago. At this time last year, St. Louis was preparing to draft Bradford No. 1 overall after winning only one game.

On Sunday night, they were despondent after seeing their chance at a division title and becoming the third 8-8 division champ in NFL history slide away.

"I don't even know if I can tell you right now," Bradford said of his frustration. "The fact our defense played, in my opinion, pretty great, the fact that we let the team down, that we couldn't get anything going, that's what really hurts."

St. Louis (7-9) was kept out of the end zone for the second time this season and Bradford finished 19 of 36 for 155 yards, with a costly interception midway through the fourth quarter.

Seattle's defense, which allowed at least 34 points in four of its last five games, suddenly showed a backbone. The Rams managed only 63 yards in the second half and, with the exception of a fumble recovered at the Seattle 21, didn't cross midfield until midway through the fourth quarter.

Even when the Rams caught a break on Marshawn Lynch's third-quarter fumble, they could only get three points out of it on Josh Brown's 27-yard field goal.

"For the most part we just were out of sync," Rams running back Steven Jackson said. "But I don't think they completely shut down the offense."

Now the question for Seattle is who will be the quarterback for its first home playoff game since a January 2008 win over Washington. Carroll was noncommittal late Sunday about who will start against the Saints. Matt Hasselbeck was active against the Rams and went through pregame warmups, but Carroll held to his word and the Seahawks went with Whitehurst after Hasselbeck hurt his hip last week against Tampa Bay.