Part of it was exhaustion; he needed intravenous fluids after the game. Part of it was taking the field twice in the final five minutes with a chance to win the game, going three-and-out on the first chance, and with the second chance, heaving a no-chance interception on the first play that decided the outcome.

Part of it was ceding the NFC West title after a four-year run, giving it to the team that just beat them, the Arizona Cardinals (possibly the worst pro franchise over two centuries of American sports).

However these factors marbled together in the aftermath of the 26-20 defeat, the Seahawks quarterback looked, talked and acted as if he had been kicked in the head.

The diagnosis was familiar, since many Seattle sports fans over the past year have experienced similar symptoms.

The normally garrulous Hasselbeck was alternatively circumspect, over-analytical and mysterious.

Most of all, he was as sad as he's been in eight years in Seattle.

"I feel like I'm letting people down," he said. "I think everyone feels that way, whether it's (letting down) teammates, coaches, fans, whomever. That is just a bad feeling.

"I don't know what else to say."

In the bigger seasonal picture, nothing much happened Sunday that wasn't expected. The Seahawks were a little better with the return of Hasselbeck and receiver Deion Branch, but the better team won. Despair kicked in because at 2-8, the finality of the futility settled in.

Up until now, the Seahawks could BS themselves into believing there was still something at stake if they ran the table. This was, after all, the NFC West, the NFL's swampy backwater where the footing was as soft as the teams.

But despite six remaining weeks, the Seahawks can no longer indulge a Santa Claus fantasy about playoffs, even though the math remains polite to them.

As Hasselbeck put it: "We're not idiots."

The fall of the prideful is always the hardest. It was made worse for a four-time division champion because enfeeblement came so swiftly and unaccountably.

As the walls closed in over the past few weeks, coach Mike Holmgren insisted the season was an anomaly due strictly to a cavalcade of injuries. Even though the loss forced him to concede that seasonal goals have finally changed, he again repeated his mantra.

"There is not a question in my mind that the Seahawks will be competitive again in the battle for the same goals next year," he said. "I don't believe that they will have to go through the injury situation that we've had to go through. I don't believe that can happen two years in a row. I've never seen it."

Perhaps. But he can't know that. And he won't be accountable anyway because he's leaving. Besides, injuries don't account for having 12 men on the field at one time, 10 men at another time, and burning timeouts to fix the problem, as happened Sunday.

Injuries don't account for Hasselbeck and tackle Walter Jones being a year older, the regression of center Chris Spencer and tackle Sean Locklear, and the abrupt, season-long vulnerability of a supposed savvy secondary that Sunday gave up 337 combined yards to Anquan Boldin and Larry Fitzgerald - the most in 22 years to a pair of opponent receivers.

There's a lot wrong with the Seahawks right now. A return to good health would help, but this team is moving away from the glory year of 2005 faster than it is moving toward something equivalent.

Hasselbeck tried to brake the slide all on his own. Out of shape after a five-week injury layoff, he tried too hard. Ever the valiant warrior, he made some marvelous throws and some good decisions, but three interceptions, including the dagger of the last one, were part of a wildly inefficient day (17 of 29 for 170 yards).

"I don't think I finished the game very strong," he said. "I don't know if it was (the layoff), as it was physically not ... I don't really have an answer for you. Sorry. The fourth quarter just felt different from the first."

Asked to elaborate, he declined.

For the whole offense, it was a day of half-steps. The Seahawks scored three touchdowns, but they came on the end of drives covering 11, 14 and 19 yards, thanks to nifty set-up work by the defense and special teams.

Still, that is how Football works sometimes - a team outplayed can sometimes win the breaks and get the game. Just as in last week's game in Miami lost 21-19, the Seahawks had a decent chance in the final minutes. For oldtimers like Hasselbeck and receiver Bobby Engram, the set-ups evoked the not-too-distant past when the Seahawks came through in money moments.

"I thought we were going to win," said Engram of the final two possessions. "When we need to make plays, we normally make them to close out those games."

Normal is long gone for these guys. So is the division. So is the season. Soon, so shall be Holmgren and presumably several of his staff.

Yet he remains confident that, after a year in the horrors, the Seahawks again will be competitive. But the more compelling narrative Sunday featured Hasselbeck, prone postgame with an IV drip, flashing back through a final-quarter nightmare.

P-I columnist Art Thiel can be reached at 206-448-8135 or artthiel@seattlepi.com