Retour
A win over the Kansas City Chiefs gave the Seattle Seahawks plenty of hope as they entered Week 8 against the Chicago Bears. They also felt the addition of Quenton Nelson could help their offense get on track, but the Bears made a big move of their own.
Chicago added Jeffery Simmons, who helped set the tone for the road team on Monday Night Football. The Bears spent the entire day pushing the pocket as they sacked Sam Darnold three times, with Simmons recording one in his debut.
The Seahawks showed fight and even cut the lead to three points in the fourth quarter, but the Bears proved to be too much as they went on to win 34-17. Let's look back at the action and see which Seahawks stood out as both winners and losers in the frustrating loss.
On the opening punt, Nehemiah Pritchett made a great play that should have forced the Bears to start from their own three-yard line. A gaffe from Rodney Thomas II gave Chicago a touchback, but it was still a great play by Pritchett. He also had another big play near the end of the first half, breaking up a pass intended for Rome Odunze. Had Odunze hauled in the bullet from Caleb Williams, it would have allowed Chicago to kick a field goal before halftime. Instead, the Bears' final drive of the half ended in no points.
Just how good is Jaxon Smith-Njigba? The Seahawks went into the half with 114 yards of offense. 92 of those yards were courtesy of JSN.
The offense struggled in the second half when Chicago put the clamps on Smith-Njigba, but that was a reminder of how much this team needs to find someone who can take some pressure off his shoulders. It was again a one-man show, with Smith-Njigba recording 118 yards and a touchdown on six receptions. The next highest yardage total was Tory Horton, who had 26 yards on three catches.
Chicago had all the momentum following a blocked field goal early in the fourth quarter, but the Dark Side defense got them back in the game. Seattle forced a third-and-long and DeMarcus Lawrence delivered. The veteran defensive end tackled Colston Loveland and forced a fumble in the process. For good measure, Lawrence also recovered the fumble, setting the Seahawks' offense up with a short field.
The Seahawks had an unfortunate three-and-out to start the game, but appeared to have won the field position game early. Michael Dickson perfectly drilled a punt inside the five-yard line and Nehemiah Pritchett made a great play to keep the ball out of the end zone.
As the ball rolled to a stop around the three-yard line, safety Rodney Thomas II touched the ball as he was sliding to the ground. In doing so, he pushed the ball into the end zone for a touchback, giving Chicago the ball at the 20.
Chicago went on to score a touchdown, even converting a fourth-down conversion near midfield on the play. Perhaps that fourth down isn't even attempted with better field position, making this a hige mistake from Thomas.
Mike Morris got his first career sack, which was a win. However, he also made a huge mistake that helped Chicago after Seattle cut the lead to three. Morris was flagged for unnecessary roughness, which allowed the Bears to start at the Seattle 44-yard line, setting them up for a touchdown drive that put the game away.
Chicago just extended their lead to 27-17, and the Seahawks needed to get some momentum back. That didn't happen thanks to Irv Charles, who was guilty of an unnecessary roughness penalty on the ensuing kickoff, their second major penalty on special teams. That forced Seattle to start with the ball at their own 11, which was their worst starting position of the game.
Charles does deserve some praise for blocking a punt earlier in the game, although that might have gone down as the longest blocked punt in NFL history. Despite Charles getting a piece of the ball, the punt traveled 45 yards downfield.
The Chicago defense harassed Sam Darnold all night, and he just never seemed comfortable. Things took an especially bad turn when the Bears found a way to cover JSN in the second half. Everything was difficult for Darnold, who finished 17-of-34 with 188 yards, two touchdown passes, and one interception.