"You think you guys are the leaders of this team? Don't let this happen ever again! Never! This cannot happen again. We've worked too hard to get this good," Holmgren told the coaches and captains in a team meeting the day after a 24-21 loss to New England, the sixth consecutive defeat for a team that had won four straight division titles entering this debacle.

That account was from injured quarterback Matt Hasselbeck, who said Holmgren was "very passionate, very emotional."

Holmgren copped to that.

"I have great affection for this team and these guys. I believe I have a good relationship with most of the guys on the football team," he said. "But I'm still the old head coach, and they've got to play. I've got to yell at them, they get mad at me."

Even in these lost, waning days of his 17-year career as a head coach.

Sunday, his Seahawks (2-11) improbably resurfaced against the co-leaders of the AFC East. Seattle had leads of 14-3 and then 21-13 early in the final quarter despite Hasselbeck missing his sixth game with a bulging disk in his back and the offensive line missing four of the five starters from the beginning of the season.

Then the defense, which returned all 11 starters this year but has been Seattle's liability instead of its strength, caved again. It allowed the Patriots to convert three third downs on the decisive drive and the game-winning touchdown on fourth down with just over 2 minutes left.

It was the third consecutive time Seattle blew a chance to win or tie late in a home game against a playoff contender.

Afterward, Holmgren was near tears. He was proud of the players' effort yet frustrated by not being able to win because of what he sees as correctable errors.

For example: Backup quarterback Seneca Wallace had used time outs two times just before plays when Patriots safety Brandon Meriweather showed a certain blitz Seattle could not block. But when Meriweather showed that blitz for the final time with 1:54 left and the Seahawks at midfield, Seattle was out of time outs. Its defense had to use the last one earlier in the final quarter because it had 12 men on the field.

Wallace ran the play. Meriweather blitzed free, sacked him and forced a fumble that New England's Richard Seymour recovered. Game over.

"Typical of the year," Holmgren said Monday.

In the locker room after the game, Holmgren told his team to do some deep self-examination if they want to succeed - or even have jobs - next season, even though he won't be around.

"At times he has had his words, because it is due," linebacker Lofa Tatupu said. "The way we have lost some of these games ... the evidence is yesterday: All these guys are out and we don't have a chance. We shock them and we were in it until the end.

"We just have to keep plugging."

Tatupu said Holmgren's emotional words hit home.

"He gave us our goals, which was win these games. But he said you guys also have to start thinking about your future, where it is with this team," Tatupu said. "It was tough. It was a tough little meeting."

Hasselbeck said he expects to return for one of the final three games, which includes Sunday's dreadful matchup at St. Louis (2-11). But the 33-year-old reiterated that it's not his call. He said doctors have told him disk injuries in backs don't heal within the same NFL season.

So why not just stay out and get right for 2009?

"It has been brought up that as of right now I don't need surgery, and so I'll be 100 percent by Valentine's Day if nothing changes," Hasselbeck said. "That has been discussed. But that's not my job. My job is to just get better for this week, and that is what I am trying to do."