(Editor’s note: The following is a guest post by Ryan Woodall, assistant coach at Edmonds-Woodway High School in Edmonds, Washington)
Football and life are games of living and learning, then improving. It’s hard to learn when you dominate. You need a few punches in the mouth to really go up. Think of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers game last year. The Seattle Seahawks gave up 38 points, but after that, the Rams were the only team to score 20+ in Seattle. The Cardinals got to 20+ by falling 41-15 in the 4th quarter, while the Titans scored a last-second TD to get up by 20. This year, the Commanders got Seattle early, but the 49ers and Chargers never really felt their offense dominate.
After watching the film, here are the storylines from Monday’s loss to the Chicago Bears:
*All statistics are from Sumer Sports
Seahawks 1st down run defense dominance
The Bears remained committed to running the ball on 1st down. They did it 15 times with only 3 being successful (20%), average 1.6 yards on carries. Overall, the Seahawks are 2nd & 8+ 12 times Monday. Throughout the NFL from ’22-’26 (regular season), series with 2nd and 8+ gained a first down 49% of time. The Bears gain a 1st down 7/12 for a 58% conversion rate.
Seahawks drop 2nd down
By piggybacking on 2nd and 8+ numbers, the Bears’ chances of getting a 1st down drop significantly with another stop on 2nd down. Throughout the NFL from ’22-’26 (regular season), series with 3rd and 8+ have 26% conversion rate, while 3rd and 5+ have a 33% conversion rate.
Causes a 3rd down conversion on Monday
On 2nd down you don’t need everything; you only need to return half. The Bears have quick route concepts to get what they need without risking sacks. The quick throw was defeated in some tight coverage. They run with combo blocks to move a DL and get a backer. Again, not playing to get everything, just getting to a manageable 3rd. The Seahawks also gave them some missed tackles, and allowed Caleb Williams to get away when the Bears tried to throw deeper.
Combo blocks/Bodies in box
The Bears know the challenge that comes with facing Seattle. 49% at the time the Seahawks only had 6 defenders in the box. Their light boxes allow 10th most yards (4.1) while seeing the 6th most rush attempts (52).
The Bears plan for the light box is to Combo (2 blockers responsible for 1 DL and 1 LB together) where they can. But you can’t combo everything, especially with only 5 OLs, which prompted the Bears to bring in TEs or WRs to help combo the OL or seal edge rushers. The combos generally worked, but there was still OL 1v1 blocking, which Seattle was able to fight back and help minimize gains. LBs are also good at hitting the OL first, to control the block and ricochet off to make tackles.
Seahawks seam attack
November has just begun, but Caleb Williams can’t wait until Thanksgiving. Williams had 17 throws between numbers and hashes (known as “seam”) for 170 yardsaccounting for 69% of his grounds with 11 successful. Williams had 7 throws 10+ yards down, tallying 99 yards (40% of the whole) with 5 being successful. On all Dig (deep in) routes, Williams is 5/6 for 110 yards (45% of the whole). In weeks 1-7, the Seahawks allowed 72 yards/game between the numbers and hashes, with an average target depth (ADOT) of 3.9. This suggests the check downs and quick throws built into the game. Williams finished 7.6 DATA.