Hasselbeck's performance crucial to Seahawks' chances

For an insider's view of the Bears-Seahawks game, we turned to former Bears linebacker Jim Schwantz:

Q. What part of Seattle's game concerns you the most?

A. The one guy that concerns you most — and it's the case any time you're playing professional football — is the quarterback.

Matt Hasselbeck has had an on-again, off-again year. They were trying to run him out of Seattle, now all of a sudden they're talking about wanting him back.

This is a guy who took a team to the Super Bowl. That doesn't make him a great quarterback because we all know Rex Grossman was part of a Super bowl team, but he's a Pro Bowl quarterback who had an excellent game last week, so he does concern you.

And so does (receiver) Mike Williams. He's a big strong guy and when you need it on third-and-5, third-and-6, he's a guy who can beat you with his body position and his size.

Q. Do you agree with the point that the Bears are a different team from the last time these two teams met?

A. Absolutely. I believe it starts with Mike Martz and that coaching staff. I think in that bye week there was a meeting of the minds where everyone in the organization sat down and kind of put a little check mark next to what they did well and a check mark next to what they didn't do so well the first half of the season.

It became pretty apparent that this is a team that plays very good defense and excellent on special teams, but was a little behind the curve offensively and needed to catch up — maybe had a little too much thrown at them early in the season, a little too much expected of them. Once they brought that back to a manageable situation, I think everybody got better on the offensive side.

Q. What's the key to a Bears victory?

A. A fast start.

More than ever in the playoffs, and especially against a team that was 7-9 and at one point its fans were hoping they would lose so they'd get a better draft pick, is a team that for the most part wasn't very good on the road.

But they're coming off two big wins — one to get in the playoffs and one to extend their playoff lives. I think the longer they are allowed to stay in the game, the more confidence they'll get and in the NFL, confidence and momentum are a very dangerous combination.

Q. Is it a concern that so many people were looking forward to a possible matchup with Green Bay before this game was even played?

A. Nothing concerns me unless it's coming out of the Bears locker room, and it's not. It's too strong of a veteran team with Brian Urlacher, Julius Peppers, Lance Briggs, Olin Kreutz, Pat Mannelly. I wouldn't worry about it.

But a Bears-Packers game on the lakefront would be awesome. It would be a monstrous, monstrous game if that were to happen.

Ÿ Jim Schwantz, a former linebacker for the Bears, serves as Palatine's mayor. His analysis can be heard on WBBM 780-AM during the pregame and postgame shows.