Coach Mike Holmgren said upon his return Monday from Seattle's 37-6 loss at Chicago that the stop in Rapid City, S.D., was because Rhodes ``felt faint.'' The stop was made on the advice of team physicians on board. Rhodes was taken from the airport to a hospital in an ambulance.

Holmgren said dehydration and Rhodes not eating much on Sunday apparently caused him to feel faint. Rhodes spent the night at a hospital under the watch of team physician Brad Shoup and then flew back to Seattle on a commercial jet Monday afternoon. The team was back by 5 a.m.

The former Green Bay Packers and Philadelphia Eagles coach, who turns 56 this month, had two strokelike episodes last fall.

``Ray had a little episode on the plane, and given his history, our doctors were very conservative,'' Holmgren said.

He emphasized that Rhodes' symptoms did not appear to be related to the game _ a Bears runaway that the notoriously intense Rhodes undoubtedly despised.

``Had it been someone else _ I don't know about this, I'm guessing _ we could have flown all the way back to Seattle,'' Holmgren said. ``He's OK.''

Rhodes had a stroke in September 2005 and missed that season's opener at Jacksonville. He then had what the team called a second ``strokelike episode'' on Nov. 4 and was hospitalized overnight. He was Seattle's defensive co-ordinator at the time, but John Marshall took over Rhodes' game-day duties in the wake of last fall's incidents.

Rhodes finished last season on a limited schedule. Holmgren said last winter _ half-jokingly _ that he chased Rhodes out of team headquarters at 5 p.m. each day.

This season, Marshall is the team's defensive coordinator while Rhodes is what Holmgren calls a ``consultant.''

The 26-year coaching veteran and Marshall develop game plans and study opposing offences during the week. On game days, they both coach from the press box, and players still say the Seahawks' defence is Rhodes' creation.

``I think most of us are concerned about Ray and his health,'' defensive end Bryce Fisher said. ``He is a good man. He is the reason a lot of us on defence are here. All of our hearts and prayers are with him as he recovers and gets back to doing things.''

Holmgren first began coaching with Rhodes on the San Francisco 49ers staffs of 1986-91. He said he wasn't completely sure if this latest episode will affect Rhodes' role with the team.

``It certainly begs the question,'' a tired-looking Holmgren said. ``But given what we learned about what actually took place, the football game didn't have anything to do with this. It was more dehydration, his diet, wasn't eating enough before the game, drinking enough orange juice _ something like that ... those are easily correctable things.''