Dave Boling: Comedy of errors sends Seahawks back to drawing board after loss to Bills

Coach Tom Flores would solemnly step to the post-game podium and shake his head, sorrowfully, apologetically, not really knowing where to start addressing the Seahawks’ problems.

Coaching protocol disallowed just coming out and saying the obvious: His team wasn’t good.

“We just have to go back to the drawing board,” he used to say.

The answer was politic. But everybody knew that no amount of drawing-board artistry could turn Stan Gelbaugh into John Elway.

It was hard not to feel sorry for Flores. He was dealing with a short deck.

Of course, back then, in the early 1990s, game tickets cost less than nachos and a beer cost now at Lumen Field. And, of greater relevance, fans didn’t have expectations of better play in those days.

Looking back, it didn’t seem so depressing when the Seahawks performed as they did on Sunday – losing 31-10 to the Buffalo Bills.

So, here’s the problem: Fans know bad when they see it.

The modern Seahawks have been to Super Bowls. Guys like Mike Holmgren and Pete Carroll found ways to marshal Seahawks into consistent winning and contending teams.

Sunday’s performance took the Seahawks back 30 years.

“When you take steps back like today, it’s very sobering,” first-year coach Mike Macdonald said.

Sobering? For coaches, maybe. It likely had the opposite effect for fans, who were probably tippling hard to tolerate a second half in which the Bills rolled up their lead to 31-3.

The Hawks looked strong with a win at Atlanta last week, but against Buffalo, they seemed every bit as inept as the club that recently lost three games in 11 days.

Does the occasional display of competence suggest the potential of growth and good things to come. Or is the inability to sustain competitiveness an indictment of the players and staff?

Little of both, really. This is a young team with a young coach still finding their way. The process of NFL growth often comes with painful hiccups.

But this team looked vastly unprepared, and there’s no way to imagine them contending for a division title.

At 4-4, though, with the rest of the NFC West underwhelming, nothing is impossible.

Quarterback Geno Smith, despite shaky protection all season, had somehow led the NFL in passing yards. And his numbers, Sunday, weren’t as bad (21-29, 212 yards, one interception) as the play seemed in real time.

But he was part of several slapstick routines by the Seahawks offense, which were every bit as comical as any blooper from 1992.

Early in the second quarter, Smith took control, driving the Hawks from their own 14 to first-and-goal at the Buffalo 2.

What happened next should have served as an omen. Maybe the ball was wet, but center Connor Williams lofted the most misguided shotgun snap in the history of the NFL.

It not only flew over Smith’s head, but also cleared tailback Kenneth Walker III, several yards behind Smith.

Walker III has been a stud for the Seahawks this season, coming up with sometimes heroic efforts. In this game, his most impressive play was chasing down this wayward snap, all the way back to the Buffalo 29 – 26 yards behind where the snap originated.

Walker III scooped it and raced up the sidelines to somewhat mitigate the mess, leaving the Hawks to kick a field goal rather than simply punch it in from the 2 or 3.

The Hawks’ red zone vaudeville act continued on the next possession.

Cornerback Josh Jobe, freshly activated off the practice squad, stung Bills quarterback Josh Allen with his first interception of the season, to set up the Hawks on the Buffalo 7.

Facing fourth-and-goal at the Bills’ 1, Smith tried to pull away from the center, only to be stepped on by a retreating Walker III, and then to be knocked down, for good measure, by right guard Anthony Bradford.

Loss of 6, turnover on downs. Cue the dancing bear.

There didn’t seem to be much point after that.

Buffalo is really good. A Seahawks loss was not a surprise.

The magnitude of the defeat was damning, however.

Perhaps worse, though, was some intrasquad squabbling between defenders Jarran Reed and Derick Hall, who tangled a bit on the field and then on the sidelines.

One would tend to see this as an unraveling of team unity. Maybe. But maybe everybody on the team needs to have somebody firmly making the point that what was going on out there was unacceptable.

There are probably better ways to make the point. But it’s an emotional and physical game, and sometimes important messages are best delivered with additional volume.

The NFL allows teams to sometimes wear their old “throwback” uniforms, understanding that nostalgia is a key part of fans’ connection to their teams.

Unfortunately, this felt a real throwback game. To the bad old days. Inept in almost all aspects.

They don’t need more like this. Even though it had to trigger memories.

Fans of ancient vintage in attendance at Lumen Field Sunday could probably hear the echoing voice of Bill the Beerman in the Kingdome – the concrete mausoleum of failed hopes but comfortably modest expectations.