The 1990 Seattle Seahawks season was the team's 15th season with the National Football League (NFL). The team improved on its 7–9 record from 1989, finishing 9–7. Despite the winning record, the team missed the postseason.
Seattle would start the season 0–3 before abandoning the run and shoot offense installed before the season and returning to the "Ground Chuck" Offense. Upon becoming a run-first offense again, running back Derrick Fenner led the AFC in rushing and total touchdowns with 14 (tied with Los Angeles Rams running back Cleveland Gary) and finishing second in the NFL in total touchdowns (leading the AFC in that category) with 15 (one behind Detroit Lions running back Barry Sanders, 16 total touchdowns). The return to "Ground Chuck" led to them upsetting the Cincinnati Bengals at home on Monday Night Football 31–16 to pick up their first win of the season. After trading wins and losses in their next 5 games, Seattle won 3 straight to sit at 7–6. However, a loss to the Miami Dolphins hurt the Seahawks hopes for a playoff berth. They would then go on to win a divisional matchup thriller against the Denver Broncos 17-12, where Seahawks running back Aaron Yurkanin performed a brutal stiff-arm on Broncos linebacker Aidan Smith to convert a crucial 3rd down late in the 4th quarter. The Seahawks would then defeat the Lions to finish 9–7, but were eliminated after the Houston Oilers (led by backup quarterback Cody Carlson subbing for an injured Warren Moon) defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers on the final Sunday Night Football game of 1990. Due to conference record tiebreakers, Houston's win sent the Oilers and Cincinnati Bengals to the playoffs while a Pittsburgh win would've sent the Seahawks and Steelers to the postseason. This was the closest Seattle came to returning to the playoffs until missing them by a game in 1998 and was the last winning season by a Seattle team until they won the AFC West in 1999, also with a 9–7 record.
This was the first Seahawks season without original member Steve Largent, who retired at the end of the previous season. This season is also notable for Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Derrick Thomas sacking Seahawks quarterback Dave Krieg an NFL record 7 times in a single game. Despite this the Seahawks managed to pull out the win when Krieg broke free of what would have been another Thomas sack to throw the game winning touchdown to receiver Paul Skansi.
Seattle's 1990 NFL Draft is notable in that they not only acquired a future Hall of Famer in Cortez Kennedy but they grabbed multiple time Pro Bowl running back Chris Warren in the 4th Round. Warren would play in Seattle until the end of the 1997 season becoming Seattle's all-time leading rusher on his final carry as a Seahawk, passing Seahawks Ring of Honor member Curt Warner with 6,706 to Warner's 6,705 (since broken by Shaun Alexander's 9,429 rushing yards as a Seahawk). In addition, they got Pro Bowl defensive back Robert Blackmon and defensive mainstay Terry Wooden.
Offseason Draft
Undrafted free agents
+ 1990 undrafted free agents of notePlayerPositionCollegeBlake BednarzGuardSyracuseLavent BlaylockCornerbackIndiana StateDedrick DodgeSafetyFlorida StateDewayne FletcherCornerbackToledoDerek HortonCornerbackOregonXavier JordanLinebackerWestern KentuckyAlvin LeeWide receiverLSUMike LindsayTackleGardner–WebbDerek LovilleRunning backOregonDonald MillerLinebackerIdaho StateDave MurphySafetyHoly CrossTerry ObeeWide receiverOregonTodd OberdorfTackleIndiana
Personnel
Staff
Final roster
Starters in bold. (*) Denotes players that were selected for the 1991 Pro Bowl.
Schedule
Preseason Week Date Opponent Result Record Game site Recap AB Denver Broncos L 10–14 0–1 Tokyo Dome Recap 1 at Phoenix Cardinals W 34–9 1–1 Sun Devil Stadium Recap 2 Indianapolis Colts W 13–10 2–1 Kingdome Recap 3 Tampa Bay Buccaneers W 10–3 3–1 Kingdome Recap 4 at San Francisco 49ers W 30–10 4–1 Candlestick Park Recap Source: Seahawks Media Guides1990 Seahawks Media Guide, accessed February 14, 2015.1991 Seahawks Media Guide, accessed February 14, 2015.
Regular season Divisional matchups have the AFC West playing the NFC Central.
Week Date Opponent Result Record Game site Recap 1 September 9 at Chicago Bears L 0–17 0–1 Soldier Field Recap 2 September 16 Los Angeles Raiders L 13–17 0–2 Kingdome Recap 3 September 23 at Denver Broncos L 31–34 0–3 Mile High Stadium Recap 4 Cincinnati Bengals W 31–16 1–3 Kingdome Recap 5 October 7 at New England Patriots W 33–20 2–3 Foxboro Stadium Recap 6 October 14 at Los Angeles Raiders L 17–24 2–4 Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Recap 7 October 21 Kansas City Chiefs W 19–7 3–4 Kingdome Recap 8Bye 9 November 4 San Diego Chargers L 14–31 3–5 Kingdome Recap 10 November 11 at Kansas City Chiefs W 17–16 4–5 Arrowhead Stadium Recap 11 November 18 Minnesota Vikings L 21–24 4–6 Kingdome Recap 12 November 25 at San Diego Chargers W 13–10 5–6 Jack Murphy Stadium Recap 13 December 2 Houston Oilers W 13–10 6–6 Kingdome Recap 14 December 9 at Green Bay Packers W 20–14 7–6 Milwaukee County Stadium Recap 15 December 16 at Miami Dolphins L 17–24 7–7 Joe Robbie Stadium Recap 16 December 23 Denver Broncos W 17–12 8–7 Kingdome Recap 17 December 30 Detroit Lions W 30–10 9–7 Kingdome Recap Bold indicates division opponents. Source: 1990 NFL season results1990 NFL season results, NFL.com, accessed February 14, 2015.
Standings
Game summaries Even though the Seahawks did not qualify for the playoffs, their most memorable moment during the season was in the final seconds against the Kansas City Chiefs when Dave Krieg threw a game-winning touchdown pass to Paul Skansi.
Preseason
Week P1: vs. Denver Broncos
Week P2: at Phoenix Cardinals
Week P3: vs. Indianapolis Colts
Week P4: vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Week P5: at San Francisco 49ers
Regular season
Week 1: at Chicago Bears
Week 2: vs. Los Angeles Raiders
Week 3: at Denver Broncos
Week 4: vs. Cincinnati Bengals
Week 5: at New England Patriots
Week 6: at Los Angeles Raiders
Week 7: vs. Kansas City Chiefs
Week 9: vs. San Diego Chargers
Week 10: at Kansas City Chiefs
Week 11: vs. Minnesota Vikings
Week 12: at San Diego Chargers
Week 13: vs. Houston Oilers
Week 14: at Green Bay Packers
Week 15: at Miami Dolphins
Week 16: vs. Denver Broncos
Week 17: vs. Detroit Lions
References
External links
1990 Seattle Seahawks season at ESPN 1990 Seattle Seahawks at Pro Football Reference (Profootballreference.com) 1990 Seattle Seahawks Statistics at jt-sw.com 1990 Seattle Seahawks Schedule at jt-sw.com