It's official: This fourth-quarter meltdown thing is on the verge of ruining Seattle's season.

It has turned from a one-time deal (the Super Bowl) to an annoying hangover (at St. Louis in the opener) to a troubling trend (at Cincinnati last week) to a season-threatening problem.

After Carolina overcame a nine-point deficit in the final four minutes to win 27-23 on Sunday, the Seahawks now have blown three fourth-quarter leads this season. At 2-4, they have to knock it off now or they will be sitting home for the playoffs.

When a team loses like that, the ones who deserve the most blame are the coaches.

Plenty of Seahawks fans have been calling for offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell to be fired for a year or more, and his offense has been a major culprit in these blown games -- unable to sustain drives when needed.

It happened again against Carolina, but the bigger issue was the fact that the defense gave up four 80-yard touchdown drives -- including the final score with 32 seconds left. On that one, Seattle's defensive coaches apparently sent in two calls, but most of the players did not get the second one. The result: Olsen split Earl Thomas and Richard Sherman for the winning TD.

“That was kind of a fluky play because we were playing two different plays at the same time,’’ Sherman said. “Any time you’re doing that, it’s tough in this league. It’s not going to work out well.’’

So, the Seahawks were left singing the same refrain as last week, when they epically gave up a 17-point, fourth-quarter advantage in Cincinnati: Communicate better and finish the game right.

The communication problems on defense could well be caused by all of the coaching changes the Seahawks underwent during the offseason. It starts with Kris Richard, who replaced Dan Quinn as DC. Under Richard, the players simply have not talked as much as they should.

You also could point to Kam Chancellor's two-game holdout absence as a factor. His return was supposed to shore up the communication, but it seemingly has gotten worse. In Cincinnati, he and Thomas were constantly talking about missed coverages. Against Carolina, Chancellor and Thomas both played very well for much of the game -- but, afterward, they were huddled up with Sherman trying to figure out how they had screwed up yet again.

The Legion of Boom has not been itself this year -- and, until they start playing like yesteryear, the defense is probably not going to return to its shutdown glory.

Of course, it hasn't helped that Bevell's offense continues to muddle through with ridiculous ineffectiveness.

They actually got Jimmy Graham going vs. Carolina, because they sent him on vertical routes. He caught eight passes for 140 yards, almost doubling his average gain per catch. That is how Bevell needs to use the star tight end.

Bevell was at his best on the Seahawks' 90-yard touchdown drive early in the second quarter. He used a lot of misdirection -- something he rarely does even though it clearly is the best way to use Russell Wilson's skills.

Wilson faked handoffs and carried the ball three times for 39 yards, hit Graham for 25 yards and found Luke Willson for 16 on a scramble play. It was textbook Wilson -- something we rarely see much anymore but really should see every game. They finished it by running for a TD out of the I formation -- something Bevell has done less and less over the past two seasons.

It was even more important for Bevell to continue that attack vs. Carolina because the offensive line could not create any running room for Marshawn Lynch (54 yards on 17 carries). Bevell should have continued to use misdirection and option plays to loosen up the run defense. Because he did not, the Seahawks fizzled on offense -- going 1 for 3 in the red zone and just 4 of 14 on third downs.   

Bevell also called a rare trick play, with Lynch tossing it back to Wilson, who hit Ricardo Lockette for a 40-yard TD (on a great catch over the defender). But Bevell's offense otherwise did almost nothing.

The unit failed to convert two interceptions into touchdowns. Bevell killed one drive when he called one of his pointless bubble screens; Graham got the ball but was stopped for no gain -- the usual result of those plays.

The second turnover drive also ended in a field goal, as Seattle could not score from the Carolina 33-yard line. Those two failures to score touchdowns killed Seattle.

In the fourth quarter, Seattle punted on its last two full possessions, gaining 20 yards on seven plays. Wilson missed a third-down chance on the first and was sacked on the last.

In the meantime, the defense let the Panthers drive 80 yards on their last two drives -- the last marked by more coaching blunders.

If the Seahawks are going to recover from this surprising 2-4 start, their coaches are going to have to do a lot better than that.

Image: Mike Morris (Flickr)