By Mark Curnutte
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Seattle Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

Jon Kitna is playing some of the best football of his seven-year career.

He has thrown for 714 yards, six touchdowns and one interception in the past three games, two of them Bengals victories.

The turning point might have been a phone call Kitna made last year to his former coach, Mike Holmgren, who all but ran Kitna out of Seattle after the 2000 season.

"I asked him to forgive me for not doing my part to make that situation work," said Kitna, who will face his former team for the first time today at Paul Brown Stadium.

"God had just put it on my heart that I was never going to play the way I want to play in this league until I forgive him and own up to my part in it."

The call surprised Holmgren.

"The first thing I said is he didn't have to apologize to me for anything," Holmgren said. "I knew he gave me everything he had when he was there.

"And it was one of those situations that happens sometimes in this league: I'm the new head coach coming in, he was the quarterback that was here. While he did lead us to the playoffs the first year, there was some things I wanted to do differently."

Holmgren, fresh off his Super Bowl run in Green Bay with quarterback Brett Favre, had arrived in Seattle before the 1999 season. Kitna had started the last five games of 1998, leading the Seahawks to a 3-2 record.

The Holmgren-Kitna partnership got off to a good start. The Seahawks were 8-2 before stumbling to a 9-7 finish. They lost a wild-card playoff game to the Dolphins. It has been Holmgren's only postseason appearance with the Seahawks.

Kitna started the first five games of 2000, throwing four touchdown passes and eight interceptions. Holmgren, regarded as a fire-breathing quarterback guru, would admit later he put Kitna in an almost impossible situation. Holmgren had seen enough of Kitna. He wanted to get a look at Brock Huard.

Coach and quarterback gave each other the silent treatment.

"I didn't like the way he treated me, so I wasn't going to talk to him, either," Kitna said. "Everybody on the team knew he wasn't being fair with me, so I was just going to hold onto that instead of trying to make the situation better."

Kitna didn't rock the boat in public, though. He never criticized his coach. Huard got hurt. Kitna got the job back and would go 6-6 in 12 starts. The Seahawks were 0-4 in Huard's starts.

But Kitna had had enough. He signed a four-year contract as a free agent with the Bengals in March 2001.

Kitna said his stay in Seattle had started to deteriorate in 1999. The Seahawks were 6-2 when Kitna turned down a contract extension that, he said, offered no guaranteed money.

Through the ordeal with Holmgren, Kitna stayed cool, earning the respect of his teammates.

"I can't think of too many people who have impressed me more through life's trials and tribulations," Seattle linebacker Chad Brown said.

Said fullback Mack Strong, "I'd say he's one of the toughest guys I've ever been around and a better quarterback than people give him credit for."

Kitna has thrown for 1,438 yards, nine touchdown passes and six interceptions in 2003.

"He looks like he's very much in a rhythmic zone, where he's getting the ball out on time," Holmgren said. "I check Jon's stats every Monday when I open the paper up and see how he did."

Kitna said he is a better quarterback because of Holmgren.

Asked what he learned from his former coach, Kitna said: "A lot, how to manage a football game. That's where I really learned to win games you're supposed to win, manage the clock, field position. As a quarterback, there are times you get outside of that and get greedy. But I learned so much from that guy. He's a genius."

The Bengals are just one game out of first place in the AFC North, and as long as the Bengals stay in the race, Kitna will start.

As soon as they drop out of contention, Kitna said, No. 1 draft choice Carson Palmer will start. Life in the NFL has never been easy for Kitna, who came into the league in 1996 as an undrafted rookie from NAIA Central Washington.

His Christian faith led him to reconcile with Holmgren. It also helps Kitna deal with his apparently uncertain NFL future.

"My job is understanding that God's will is perfect, and he never makes mistakes," Kitna said. "God brought him here for a reason. The most important thing for me is to teach (Palmer) what it means for him to be the leader of a football team for a Godly man. He's one who professes to be a Christian.

"... He has unbelievable ability. He's going to learn certain little things from me. (Former Seahawks teammate) Warren Moon had to teach me how to play quarterback. I don't have to teach (Palmer) how to play quarterback. My job is to really help him learn what it means to be a Godly man."

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E-mail mcurnutte@enquirer.com

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