The 1990

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) West, which they rejoined in 2002 as ...

season was the team's 15th season with the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL). The team improved on its 7–9 record from 1989, finishing 9–7. Despite the winning record, the team missed the postseason.

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

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 Derrick Steven Fenner (born April 6, 1967), is a former professional American football player who was selected by the Seattle Seahawks in the tenth round of the 1989 NFL Draft. A 6'3" 235-lb. running back from the University of North Carolina, Fe ...

led the AFC in rushing and total touchdowns with 14 (tied with

Los Angeles Rams The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Rams compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division. The Rams play ...

running back

Cleveland Gary Cleveland Everette Gary (born May 4, 1966), also known as Cleveland Edward Gary, is a former professional American football running back in the National Football League (NFL). He was selected in the first round of the 1989 NFL draft by the Los ...

) and finishing second in the

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...

in total touchdowns (leading the AFC in that category) with 15 (one behind

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

running back

Barry Sanders Barry Sanders (born July 16, 1968) is an American former professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL), from 1989 to 1998 for the Detroit Lions. Sanders led the league in rushing yards four times and ...

, 16 total touchdowns). The return to "Ground Chuck" led to them upsetting the

Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The c ...

at home on ''

Monday Night Football ''ESPN Monday Night Football'' (abbreviated as ''MNF'' and also known as ''ESPN Monday Night Football on ABC'' for simulcasts) is an American live television broadcast of weekly National Football League (NFL) games currently airing on ESPN, AB ...

'' 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 The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team pla ...

hurt the Seahawks hopes for a playoff berth. They would then go on to win a divisional matchup thriller against the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquart ...

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 The Houston Oilers were a professional American football team that played in Houston from its founding in 1960 to 1996 before relocating to Memphis, and later Nashville, Tennessee becoming the Tennessee Titans. The Oilers began play in 1960 as ...

(led by backup quarterback

Cody Carlson Matthew Cody Carlson (born November 5, 1963) is a former professional American football player who was selected by the Houston Oilers in the 3rd round of the 1987 NFL Draft. A 6'3", 200-lb. quarterback from Baylor University, Carlson played in s ...

subbing for an injured Warren Moon) defeated the

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. Founded in , the Steel ...

on the final '' Sunday Night Football'' game of 1990. Due to conference record tiebreakers, Houston's win sent the Oilers and

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 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

and was the last winning season by a Seattle team until they won the AFC West in

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

, also with a 9–7 record. This was the first Seahawks season without original member

Steve Largent Stephen Michael Largent (born September 28, 1954) is an American former football wide receiver and politician who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons with the Seattle Seahawks. A member of the Republican Party, he serv ...

, who retired at the end of the previous season. This season is also notable for

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The tea ...

linebacker

Derrick Thomas Derrick Vincent Thomas (January 1, 1967 – February 8, 2000), nicknamed D.T., was an American football linebacker for the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League (NFL). Considered one of the greatest pass rushers of all time, he p ...

sacking Seahawks quarterback

Dave Krieg David Michael Krieg ( ; born October 20, 1958) is a former American football quarterback in the National Football League (NFL). He attended Milton College in his home state of Wisconsin and made the Seattle Seahawks as an undrafted free agent. ...

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 Paul Anthony Skansi (born January 11, 1961) is an American football scout for the Washington Commanders of the National Football League (NFL). A former wide receiver, he played college football for the Washington Huskies and was drafted by the ...

. Seattle's 1990 NFL Draft is notable in that they not only acquired a future Hall of Famer in

Cortez Kennedy Cortez Kennedy (August 23, 1968 May 23, 2017) was an American professional football player who was a defensive tackle for his entire 11-season career with the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League (NFL). He was inducted into the Pro ...

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 Curtis Edward Warner (born March 18, 1961) is an American former professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL). A two-time All-American at Penn State University, Warner was drafted by the Seattle Se ...

with 6,706 to Warner's 6,705 (since broken by

Shaun Alexander Shaun Edward Alexander (born August 30, 1977) is an American former professional football player who was a running back for the Seattle Seahawks and Washington Redskins of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the ...

's 9,429 rushing yards as a Seahawk). In addition, they got Pro Bowl defensive back

Robert Blackmon Robert James Blackmon (born May 12, 1967) is a former American football safety in the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the Seattle Seahawks in the second round of the 1990 NFL Draft The 1990 NFL draft was the procedure by whic ...

and defensive mainstay

Terry Wooden Terry Wooden (born January 14, 1967) is a former American Football linebacker who played for three teams, the Seattle Seahawks, the Kansas City Chiefs, and the Oakland Raiders from 1990 to 1998. Wooden played college football at Syracuse Un ...

1990 NFL Draft

Personnel

Staff

Final roster

* Starters in bold. * (*) Denotes players that were selected for the

1991 Pro Bowl The 1991 Pro Bowl was the NFL's 41st annual all-star game which featured the outstanding performers from the 1990 season. The game was played on Sunday, February 3, 1991, at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu, Hawaii before a crowd of 50,345. The final ...

Schedule

Preseason

:Source: Seahawks Media Guides

Regular season

Divisional matchups have the AFC West playing the NFC Central. :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

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

Seahawks draft history at NFL.com

1990 NFL season results at NFL.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:1990 Seattle Seahawks Season

Seattle Seahawks seasons