Darrell Bevell has had a rough couple of games, and the boo birds are out again. 

First, he failed to give Marshawn Lynch the ball from the 1-yard line in the Super Bowl and Russell Wilson's pass was intercepted at the goal line.

Then Bevell gave the ball to Lynch on fourth-and-1 in the season opener and Lynch was stuffed for a loss, giving the Hawks an overtime defeat.

Bevell has been a lightning rod for fan criticism throughout most of his four-plus seasons as Seattle's offensive coordinator, and his past two games have fanned the fire of fan ire. As Bevell heads back home this week to Wisconsin, where he played quarterback and later coached Brett Favre with the Packers, even Mama Lynch is calling for Bevell's head.

"The only reason he called that dumb play yesterday is to be able to justify the 1-yard (run) that wasn't called in the Super Bowl, but most fans already figured this out," Delisa Lynch said Tuesday.

That's nothing new for the Lynch family; Marshawn himself reportedly was displeased with Bevell's play calling throughout last season and hinted that there were ulterior motives for not giving him the ball with the game on the line. (That's BS, of course. It was just a bad football decision, nothing else.)

The criticism is not unique to Bevell. Play callers always take plenty of blame when their offenses do not perform -- as Pete Carroll said, "If you’re not playing well, they’re going to be at you.”

In defense of his offense, Bevell has had some unique circumstances in Seattle. He has had to game-plan around a short quarterback who can't always see his receivers; those receivers have had trouble getting open in some games; Percy Harvin ruined the offense last year; and, most significantly, Bevell has had to work around an ever-evolving (or devolving) offensive line ever since he arrived in 2011.

Wilson, who stands almost 5 feet 11, misses seeing receivers in every single game. It will always be like that. But he also brings an elusiveness and big-play ability that few teams have. So Bevell, just like Seattle fans, has to take the bad with the good.

This offense is built around Beast Mode and DangeRuss, relying heavily on Lynch's hard-charging running style and Wilson's improvisational ability. They spearheaded the league's top rushing offense last season as the Seahawks set a team record.

Few are going to credit Bevell or even Tom Cable for that, though, considering how much Lynch and Wilson do on their own.

Meanwhile, the passing game has been highly inconsistent, relying more on the so-called "scramble game" and big plays than on any conventional means and ranking in the bottom quarter of the league in all three of Wilson's seasons.  

Critics argue that Bevell has relied too heavily on bubble screens and other short sideline throws, letting the big plays come out of Wilson's improvisation. Bevell tends to throw the ball horizontally, not down the field. Perhaps part of that is the simple fact that Wilson cannot see all of his receivers over the middle -- something that happened again in the season opener (e.g., on this play and this play and this play). But part of Bevell's job is to put Wilson in position where he can see his receivers.

Other criticisms: Bevell uses three wide receivers far too often -- e.g., the last play of the Super Bowl and the last play vs. the Rams. He doesn't use his tight ends enough. He strays from the run-first philosophy far too much, especially for a team that is not consistent enough in the passing game.

Last year, he tried to build the offense around Harvin, but he couldn't figure out how to use him (too many short passes hoping for big runs afterward) and went away from the power running game that had been the Seahawks' identity. After the loss to Dallas, he said the players needed to execute better, but he also said he could improve as well and make sure Lynch got the ball more.

Of course, Lynch didn't get the ball with the season on the line in the Super Bowl.

Now that the Hawks have added two superlative weapons in Jimmy Graham and Tyler Lockett, there is no excuse for Bevell not to dial up successful plays. He has plenty of weapons. Wilson actually used a lot of them in St. Louis, completing 78 percent of his passes to eight receivers.

But Graham caught just two passes for eight yards in the first half and Bevell was calling his patented sideways bubble screens to Doug Baldwin and Jermaine Kearse rather than using the much speedier Lockett.

Many complained about the fact that he ran Lynch out of the shotgun on the final play in overtime, but -- like it or not -- that is a staple run for the Seahawks, who like to create running lanes by spreading out the defense.  Bevell said they ran out of that formation 10 times in the game and did well with it on nearly every run until the final play.

That prompted plenty of complaints from fans, and Lynch's mom called him "the worst play caller ever" as she joined the chorus of fans again demanding Bevell's head yet again.

Carroll and Bevell embraced the criticism Wednesday.

Carroll called it "Mom looking out after her kid."

"There ain’t nothing wrong with that," he said. "There’s a lot of passion with our following and the 12s, and with the family members and all. … I don’t blame her for having strong feelings; she’s a mom.”

Bevell said, “I’m glad we have passionate fans. The 12s are very passionate, and that’s what we want. We want those people that are passionate about our team and supporting us. It comes with the territory. I played quarterback, and you know that guy’s going to get more credit than he deserves, and more people are going to be on him when you don’t win. It’s the same as what I’m doing. I’m totally confident in what I’m doing. I’m totally confident that I’m getting our team in the best position to win, and I’m glad she’s passionate about us.”

No matter how much fans or Lynch's mom complain about Bevell, he is not going anywhere.

Carroll made that very clear after the Super Bowl debacle.

“Darrell is an incredible play caller. He has done a fantastic job,” Carroll said the day after the ill-fated pass from the 1 vs. the Patriots. "We’re so lucky to have him. He’s been absolutely instrumental in everything that we have done. There is no reservation in that thought and don’t make it out like there is, because he is an awesome guy on our staff and he is crucially important to our future as well.”

On Wednesday, days after another failure by the offense, Carroll said, "I don’t have to defend him. I don’t feel that at all. Let’s start there: I’m not defending him. He does a terrific job, and the history shows all of that, all that we’ve done.”

Bevell stood up for himself, addressing fans who think they could do a better job.

“I always joke with some of the players every now and then that everyone has Madden nowadays," he said. "Everybody gets to play, and they’re offensive coordinators on their game. … People are the armchair quarterbacks, are going to be able to poke holes in whatever you’re doing.

"I can promise them that we’re spending a lot of time on what we’re doing. There’s rhyme and reason for everything, and there’s not a play I throw out there that I don’t believe is going to be successful and that’s not putting the Seahawks in the position to win.”

If his offense does its job and the Hawks beat the Packers in Green Bay on Sunday, Mama Lynch, the Madden crew and the rest of Bevell's critics might give him a break -- at least for a week.

Image: Mike Morris (Flickr)