KIRKLAND, Wash. -- The Seattle Seahawks haven't been to the playoffs since 1988 and haven't had a winning season since 1990. Unless they collapse down the stretch, that's about to change.

	Jon Kitna and the Seahawks have a three-game cushion in the AFC West.

Suddenly, the question in Seattle isn't if the team will reach the postseason? It's will the Seahawks have the home-field advantage when they get there?

"It seems like each game every week gets bigger and bigger," second-year linebacker Anthony Simmons said. "We know if we cut back on our mistakes, we're going to be a really good football team."

Facing the longest current playoff drought in the NFL, the Seahawks are still making some mistakes, but they're winning in spite of them.

Following their 31-19 victory Sunday in Kansas City, their first triumph at Arrowhead Stadium since 1990, they've opened up a three-game lead in the AFC West, own an 8-2 record and boast a five-game winning streak.

Four of their final six games will be against AFC West opponents: at Oakland and Denver and home to San Diego and Kansas City.

First-year coach Mike Holmgren has the Seahawks brimming with confidence.

"Everyone is still learning," Simmons said. "Once everybody gets comfortable within the system and has everything done pat, it's going to be real scary."

Holmgren took Green Bay to two Super Bowls in his seven seasons there. He was hired in Seattle by billionaire owner Paul Allen and team president Bob Whitsitt in January to get the Seahawks to the Super Bowl as well.

Holmgren expected to be successful, but he's startled that success has come this quickly.

"I'm pleasantly surprised," Holmgren said. "I thought this team could do well, but this is a good record after 10 games. But we're still sputtering around a little bit now, and our best football is ahead of us."

The Seahawks have tied their second-longest winning streak in franchise history. Seattle's fans are starting to believe that their team is finally worth cheering for again after watching teams coached by Tom Flores and Dennis Erickson disappoint them in the '90s.

In the past two weeks, the Seahawks beat Denver 20-17, then followed that up by ending an eight-game losing streak in Kansas City.

Holmgren is winning with most of the players who got Erickson fired after an 8-8 season in 1998. The new coach is preaching improvement.

"The consistency is not there yet," Holmgren said. "At times we function very well. We had a nice 13-play drive (Sunday). That was awesome. But we had a couple of three-and-outs that were just plain ugly."

The stars of Seattle's victory in Kansas City were Sean Dawkins and Ricky Watters on offense and Michael Sinclair on defense. In his third 100-yard rushing game in four weeks, Watters scored three touchdowns and had his longest run since 1996, a 45-yarder. Dawkins had five catches for a season-high 114 yards.

On the minus side, Jon Kitna missed a touchdown when he overthrew Dawkins in the second quarter and misfired to several other open receivers. Joey Galloway, the star of the Denver game with two critical catches, was held to one catch by the Chiefs, and Derrick Mayes, the team's leading receiver, was shut out.

Still, it didn't require a perfect game for the Seahawks to do something they hadn't done in Kansas City since 1990, when Dave Krieg was their quarterback.

The Seahawks go into next Sunday's home game against Tampa Bay ranked 25th on defense and 19th on offense in the NFL.

Holmgren doesn't pay much attention to those statistics. More importantly, the Seahawks rank third in the league with a plus-10 turnover margin and lead the NFL with 21 interceptions.

"Statistics can be a little bit misleading," Holmgren said. "I'm not too bothered by the stats, honestly. The good stats, the ones I look at all the time, are the giveaway-takeway ratio. That's a very, very important stat."

That stat and the Seahawks' 8-2 record with six games to go, including three in the Kingdome.