The Seattle Seahawks' up and down title defense campaign just took another hit on Monday night, losing 34-17 to the Chicago Bears on "Monday Night Football." Seattle's usual luck with Monday games did not materialize in Week 8, as the team has dropped to 4-4 and now share an identical record with the Los Angeles Rams.

Chicago coming in and earning a road win from the Seahawks was not an unthinkable outcome. The Bears are a legitimate Super Bowl contender and feature one of the best offenses in football. If a time traveler visited you on Monday morning and simply said "Bears win" you probably wouldn't be surprised. What is surprising is how they did it. I'm not sure anyone thought this was going to be a blowout where Seattle's offense was largely incapable of doing much of anything for most of the game.

Seattle's first half stats were unfortunately a harbinger of what was to come. The Seahawks trailed 13-3 and had 71 yards of offense. A stunning 43-yard touchdown strike to a wide open Jaxon Smith-Njigba nearly doubled their yardage output for the half and got them back in the game. Unfortunately, Jason Myers missed the PAT to keep it 13-9.

Things didn't get much better in the second half. Chicago only had two third quarter possessions, but they made the most of their second, marching 69 yards in ten plays to go up 20-9. Seattle's response drive ended unceremoniously when Jason Myers' field goal was blocked.

However, the Seahawks showed the most life of the night when pass rush specialist DeMarcus Lawrence forced a fumble of tight end Colston Loveland on third down, and recovered it! Three plays later, Sam Darnold found Cooper Kupp for a touchdown, then Tory Horton for a two-point conversion to cut the lead to 20-17 with 11:46 in the game. Sudddenly, the Seahawks felt very much alive and in a position to work their usual prime time magic and somehow find their way to an improbable victory.

Well... not this time. The Bears swifty responded with an instant five-play, 56 yard touchdown drive to go up 27-17. The play of the drive was a 39 yard rush from wide receiver Kalif Raymond on 3rd-and-9. Ironically, the Bears were the beneficiaries of the most fortuitous delay of game penalty of all-time. Seattle actually stopped Chicago on 3rd-and-4, and instead of the Bears facing 4th down from the 39, they were actually given another shot. On the very next play, D'Andre Swift found the end zone.

Seattle was already facing an uphill climb, and their long-odds comeback attempt was ended when Sam Darnold's desperation heave was batted down and intercepted by a Bears defensive lineman, who returned it to Seattle's six-yard line. Five plays later, Swift scored once more to make it 34-17.

Now the Seahawks are 4-4 following a particularly brutal stretch of their schedule, where they went 1-3 against four of the best teams in the NFL. They will return to Lumen Field next Sunday for a Week 9 game against the surprisingly frisky Arizona Cardinals.