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SEATTLE -- For two months, the Seahawks appeared to be dodging the curse of the Super Bowl losers. They were 4-1 despite some nasty injuries. The schedule appeared to be one of the easiest in football. A last-second win over the Rams last week appeared to put the Seahawks on course to win the NFC West and avoid the tradition of the last five Super Bowl losers finishing with a losing record. But it took only 47 seconds into the third quarter for bad luck to strike Seattle. Vikings linebacker E.J. Henderson came off a block and rolled into the right knee of quarterback Matt Hasselbeck, sending him to the ground and eventually out of the game. Hasselbeck had to be helped to the sidelines with a knee sprain. At first, the injury was called a medial collateral knee injury. This type of injury usually sidelines a player for at least two to four weeks.  After Sunday's 31-13 loss to the Vikings, Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren didn't want to play doctor. He'll await a Monday medical report that probably isn't going to be good, and could leave Seneca Wallace as the team's starting quarterback for the near future. "I'm not saying anything about what it is," Holmgren said. "Tomorrow, he has his pictures taken." Suddenly, the Seahawks are starting to show signs of being stricken by the bad luck that follows Super Bowl losers. Shaun Alexander remains sidelined with a broken foot. Although he hopes to return to practice this week with the thought of playing against the Chiefs, Alexander is still probably a week or two away from playing. Steve Hutchinson's replacement at left guard, Floyd "Pork Chop" Womack, remains out with a knee injury, and his replacement, Chris Spencer, has struggled to maintain a high level of play at left guard. Despite those problems, though, the Seahawks had only one loss (to the Bears) heading into Sunday. But Hasselbeck's injury has to cause some serious concern. "We have to rally," left tackle Walter Jones said. "This happens in a season. Some players go out and if he's out for a long extent, you have to rally around the guys that we have. The guys that we have here we know can get the job done." Said Stevens, "We don't feel like it's going to change what we've done. Somebody has to step up. This is a game where injuries happen every week. When a guy gets injured, you have to have confidence somebody can do the game. Seneca Wallace is going to have to come in and throw strikes." Wallace, who is only 5-foot-11 and 196 pounds, might have to stand tall next week in a tough road game at Kansas City. Wallace actually didn't play too poorly Sunday. Like Stevens said, the backup has to come off the bench and throw strikes. Wallace threw a few strikes, but just not enough of them. "Seneca was put in a bad situation," Seahawks wide receiver Deion Branch said. "But we've got to move forward. There is nothing we can do about it. We hope Matt has a speedy recovery whatever his timetable is." Even before Hasselbeck's injury, he wasn't particularly sharp. Hasselbeck had trouble getting in sync with his wide receivers. They would run one way. He would throw another. "I think he was delivering the ball just a little bit early," Holmgren said. "I have to look at the film, but that could be because they were rerouting our receivers or it could be that he was feeling a little pressure of some kind and thought he had to get the ball off sooner than maybe he did. Or, he had to throw it when he threw it." Until the medical report comes in, Wallace is the Seahawks' starting quarterback. "You go through the whole season and if your quarterback is healthy, you won't get any snaps at all," Wallace said. "Going through a week of practice and preparation, things will be a lot different come game time on Sunday." In Arrowhead next Sunday, the Seahawks will find out if he's right. John Clayton is a senior writer for ESPN.com.
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