Seahawks' season ends in 42-20 loss to Packers

GREEN BAY, Wis. - Two Green Bay fumbles. Two Seahawks touchdowns. Two injured Seahawks. All in the first four minutes of the game, and all taking place in driving snow.

The start was as wild and unforeseen as it gets, and before the Packers knew what hit them, they were trailing by 14 points.

Then they hit back with a vengeance. Green Bay rolled off 21 straight points, outscored Seattle 21-6 over the rest of the game and ended the Seahawks' season with a 42-20 win Saturday in the NFC divisional playoffs at Lambeau Field.

It was the most points the Seahawks surrendered in a postseason game in franchise history.

And yet for those four minutes, the Seahawks looked set to pull off an upset on the road. They lost special-teams contributor Josh Scobey to a left ankle injury, but on the first play from scrimmage, Packers running back Ryan Grant fumbled a Brett Favre pass when Seattle's Leroy Hill hit him. Lofa Tatupu recovered and returned the ball to the Packers' 1-yard line, and when the Seahawks got the ball, Shaun Alexander ran for a touchdown.

The next time the Packers got the ball, Grant fumbled at the end of a run, hit hard by Seahawks safety Brian Russell. Jordan Babineaux recovered, and the Seahawks took over at the Packers' 49.

The Seahawks began moving the ball down the field with their second offensive possession, but on the fourth play of the drive, wide receiver Deion Branch went down with a left knee injury. Branch, like Scobey, had to be carted to the locker room and didn't return to action.

Branch's replacement, Ben Obomanu, gained 16 yards on a pass play. Then Hasselbeck found Bobby Engram in the back of the end zone for another touchdown and a 14-0 lead.

The Seahawks were on their way to the franchise's first postseason win on the road since the 1983 season. Or so it seemed.

The Packers finished 13-3 for a reason, and quarterback Brett Favre was a big one. His 15-yard pass to Greg Jennings made it 14-7 with 7:08 left in the first quarter. On the Packers' next drive, a reviewed spot of the ball gave them a first down after what was originally ruled fourth down. Then Grant had runs of 26 and 15 yards, setting himself up for a 1-yard scoring run to tie the game.

The Seahawks gave the ball up when tight end Marcus Pollard fumbled after a catch, and it took the Packers three plays to take the lead. Favre threw to Jennings two yards for a touchdown and a 21-14 lead at 13:22 of the second quarter.

Aided by a roughing-the-punter penalty, the Seahawks managed a field goal to make it 21-17. But by that time, the Packers defense was hitting hard, and the offense was hitting its stride.

When Favre avoided a sack, stumbled, righted himself and flipped a pass to tight end Donald Lee as he was hit to gain a key first down, the Packers had all the momentum. They scored on Grant's 3-yard run on the next play to go up 28-17 with 26 seconds left in the first half.

Grant, who was on the New York Giants' practice squad in 2005 and on injured reserve with them in 2006 before coming to Green Bay in a trade on Sept. 1 of this season, was all the difference despite his two fumbles. He scored three touchdowns and trampled a befuddled and snowbound Seattle defense for 201 yards on 27 carries.

Grant's yardage total is the most the Seahawks have ever allowed in a playoff game, smashing the mark set by Marcus Allen with the Los Angeles Raiders when he had 154 yards on Jan. 8, 1984.

The Packers went ahead 35-17 when Favre connected with Brandon Jackson for a 13-yard pass play, the score set up by two 24-yard gains during the drive. The snow began coming down in blizzard-like form, as if to further burry the Seahawks.

The Seahawks' last chance to get back into the game went through Pollard's hands in the end zone, and the Seahawks settled for a Josh Brown field goal with 2:46 left in the third quarter. They never got closer, as the Packers rode Grant to another touchdown drive, the running back going in from a yard out to make it 42-20 at the 13:26 mark of the fourth quarter.

Green Bay, which moves on to the NFC Championship Game next Sunday, didn't even punt until there was 9:15 left in the game.