SEATTLE — Mike Holmgren wants to take the Seahawks' fans along to Detroit for the Super Bowl. He'll have to settle for the league's MVP, a ferocious pass rush and, by far, the NFC's best team.

Seattle ended all that wild-card, road-win nonsense in the conference by routing Carolina 34-14 on Sunday. The Seahawks earned their first trip to the big game the same way they dominated the NFC, with:

Shaun Alexander picking up plenty of yards on the ground and getting into the end zone.

The defense unnerving an opposing quarterback with constant pressure.

Qwest Field's patrons providing a deafening soundtrack that peaked when Alexander jogged to the end zone carrying the George Halas Trophy high.

"This is a tough place to play in, and today they were really into it," Holmgren said of the fans, although he could have meant each and every Seahawk, too. "I looked out into the full stadium, which it hadn't always been that way, and I think we got people excited about football again here in the Pacific Northwest."

That excitement will carry through the next two weeks to the Super Bowl on Feb. 5 against another wild card, the Pittsburgh Steelers. They became the first sixth seed to get that far, beating Denver 34-17.

The Steelers are 31/2-point favorites.

What they'll face from Seattle (15-3) is a balanced offense, a peaking defense and a coach seeking to become the first to lead two franchises to Super Bowl wins. Holmgren guided Green Bay to a win in the 1997 game, then lost the next year to the Broncos.

At least the Steelers can be comforted by not needing to deal with the frenzied fans in Seattle who love their Seahawks as much as they love their coffee. Seattle has won 12 straight home games.

"I think everybody in this town will be fired up," All-Pro fullback Mack Strong said after opening holes for Alexander to rush for a club postseason-record 132 yards and two touchdowns — after Alexander missed most of last week's win over Washington with a concussion. "People will be going crazy, it will be pandemonium."

Even owner Paul Allen, who usually remains in the background, got into the mood big-time Sunday.

Allen raised the team's 12th man flag before kickoff, then waved a white towel to stir up the crowd of 67,837 even more.

"I was at the Super Bowl last year, just hoping that one day we'd be able to get there," Allen said. "I may seem like a mild-mannered guy, but my gut was churning inside: 'Let's win this game. Just win this game. We've got to win this game.'"

It never really was in doubt, thanks to a pass rush led by Rocky Bernard's two sacks. The Seahawks put pressure on quarterback Jake Delhomme and star receiver Steve Smith from the outset and never backed off.

That forced Delhomme into several errant passes, three of which were picked off, surpassing his career playoff total by one.

"They were the best team in the NFC all year and they played better than us today, that's for sure," said Delhomme, whose worst postseason game saw him go 15-for-35 for 196 yards, one TD, three interceptions and two sacks. "We just never got it going."

Smith certainly didn't, making five catches for 33 yards. He did score on a 59-yard punt return to make it 17-7 in the second quarter.

"Steve Smith is arguably the best receiver in the game right now, and we just shut him down completely," Seattle defensive end Grant Wistrom said.

The Panthers weren't helped when starting running back Nick Goings was sidelined in the first quarter after a massive hit by linebacker Lofa Tatupu, who had one of the interceptions. They already were minus their top two runners, Stephen Davis and DeShaun Foster.

The Seahawks had their horse, though, and by the second half, they could turn to Alexander. As he always has this season, he delivered some big runs as the crowd chanted "M-V-P, M-V-P."

"We've come a long way, it's taken five years to put this group together," Alexander said. "Now we are one of the elite teams."

A team with a potent offense that led the NFL with 452 points. That offense gained 393 yards on Carolina and held the ball for nearly 42 minutes.

Matt Hasselbeck was a precise 20-for-28 for 219 yards and two scores, 17 yards to Jerramy Stevens to open the scoring and 20 yards to Darrell Jackson in the third quarter.

While Alexander paced the ball-control offense, it was the defense that really carried the Seahawks. It yielded only 62 yards, three first downs and no real threats in the first half.

Then, with Carolina desperate, Seattle allowed virtually nothing until it had a 20-point lead.

"This game is a physical game, especially this time of year," defensive end Bryce Fisher said. "Carolina has been the puncher for most of the time, they line up and punch people in the mouth. Today, we took their push and we swung back, and our punches were definitely stronger."