Detroit ? Seattle running back Shaun Alexander had a good enough stat line: 95 yards on 20 carries, averaging nearly five yards a pop.

There was one thing missing.

Touchdowns.

In the end, that ended up hurting the Seahawks in their 21-10 loss Sunday to Pittsburgh in the Super Bowl.

Now the big question comes: Will the league MVP be back next season in Seattle? This was the last game under his current contract, and Seattle must decide what it wants to do with him. Alexander wants to come back, but he could command up to $20 million in signing-bonus money.

“I believe that Seattle is really, really close to being a dominant football team. We can have a great tradition for a long time,” Alexander said. “I want to be a part of that. But fair is fair. … My gut tells me Seattle is going to be fair.”

Last year, the Seahawks designated him their franchise player and paid him $6.32 million. If they don’t want to franchise him again or give him a long-term deal, Alexander would become a free agent March 3.

Sunday was Alexander’s chance to show why he won the league MVP award. Many questioned his toughness, even though he set an NFL record with 28 TDs during the regular season and piled up 1,880 yards.

Against Pittsburgh, it was tough going. Two yards here. Four yards there. Alexander had one big play, a nice 21-yard run in the third quarter that helped get the Seahawks into field-goal range. But Josh Brown missed a 50-yard field goal wide-left, and Alexander did little else the rest of the game.

Minus that big gain, Alexander averaged 3.9 yards a carry – well off the 5.1 he averaged during the regular season.