DETROIT — Quarterback Matt Hasselbeck was the first to shake his head in disgust and in frustration, right after the decisive play in the fourth quarter.

Coach Mike Holmgren was next, just outside his Seattle locker room when it was over. Then in came linebacker D.D. Lewis and right tackle Sean Locklear.

The entire Pacific Northwest was likely doing the same thing after the Super Bowl on Sunday.

There were far more shaking heads than making plays from the Seahawks in their humbling, bumbling, 21-10 loss to not-so-dominant Pittsburgh. The unsightly defeat was unlike any of their 18 previous games — and especially their 15 wins.

So instead of celebrating what they had accomplished for the last five months, the Seahawks will spend the coming weeks — months? — grasping for how a winnable championship slipping through their lazy hands.

"Anytime you get this far and lose this game, it's a tremendous disappointment," said Holmgren, after he lost for the second time in three Super Bowls as a head coach.

"I'm more disappointed in how we played in certain areas. We were careless with the football. And we had way too many penalties ... (and) we did drop the ball, uncharacteristically."

Other than that, Seattle's first Super Bowl went just fine.

Hasselbeck's woefully overthrown pass far beyond Darrell Jackson's arms landed in Ike Taylor's clutches near the Pittsburgh 15 four minutes into the fourth quarter, ending Seattle's last opportunity to take the lead.

"It got to the point where I was taking chances — and that was a chance I shouldn't have taken," said Hasselbeck, the Pro Bowl starter who had 24 touchdowns.

Hasselbeck — 26-for-49 for 273 yards passing with a touchdown and the brutal interception — was far from the only culprit. Just the last.

The league's second-best team at avoiding penalties all season had four crucial flags. Usually dependable Josh Brown missed two long field goals.

Plus, there were three dropped passes for a team that thought it had its drop problems solved from 2004. Seattle cut its drops from 43 to 23 this season, according to a coaching staff count.

All of Sunday's flubs were by tight end Jerramy Stevens — the co-creator of last week's only controversy with Pittsburgh's mouthy Joey Porter.

Then there was a catch on the goal line with only one foot inbounds. And two calls by the officials that Seattle will be debating more than the hosts of "Crossfire."

That mess directly resulted in 18 lost points — including a disputed Steelers touchdown — two lost first downs, 176 lost yards — and one, bitterly lost Super Bowl.

"We could have dominated the game," said Lewis, involved in the play that Seattle fans will steam about for weeks to come. "I really believe we out-physicaled them."

And all Seahawks still believe Lewis drove Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and the ball away from the goal-line plane on his 1-yard score with 1:55 left in the second quarter that put the Seahawks behind for good, 7-3.

"I saw that I pushed the ball back," Lewis said.

Referee Bill Leavy didn't see it Lewis' way. He upheld the call after a replay review. Holmgren then upbraided Leavy on his way off the field at halftime.

Holmgren walked over to Leavy, a fifth-year referee calling his first Super Bowl, and could be seen angrily telling him, "It wasn't even close."

But the rest of Seattle's excruciating night was.

The Seahawks had three crucial penalties in the first half, which cost them 69 yards, a first down and a touchdown. The first flag was right guard Chris Gray holding Pittsburgh's James Farrior. That negated Jackson's 18-yard, third-down catch to the Steelers 23. Seattle punted two plays later.

On the Seahawks' next drive, Jackson was called for pushing Chris Hope away as he broke to catch Hasselbeck's pass in the back of the end zone. Seattle settled for Brown's 47-yard field goal and a 3-0 edge — instead of a 7-0 lead.

The third flag came while Peter Warrick returned a punt 34 yards to the Pittsburgh 46. Recently elevated practice-squad player Etric Pruitt's holding penalty cost Seattle 29 yards.

And on the last drive of the first half, Jackson got only one foot inbounds near the goal-line pylon while making a catch on Seattle's next-to-last play. Brown pushed a 54-yard field goal wide right on the next play.

The second half brought more Seahawks frustration.

Officials flagged Locklear, a first-year starter, for holding when Stevens did finally catch a pass — a bobbling 17-yard grab at the Steelers 2 with 12:11 left and Seattle trailing 14-10.

Two plays later, Hasselbeck threw his game-breaking interception.

Stevens somewhat redeemed his poor night with a 16-yard touchdown catch from Hasselbeck. That briefly pulled the Seahawks within 14-10 midway through the third quarter.

Stevens stood tall with a stern look on his face while saying he was not affected by the Steelers' taunting — or the mini-furor of last week he created by saying Jerome Bettis would walk out of Ford Field without a Super Bowl trophy after his final game.

"I can't remember the last time I played this poorly," the former first-round draft choice said. "And it doesn't have anything to do with (the Steelers). It's about me not making plays. It was 100 percent me."

He could have been speaking for the entire Seahawks offense.