Well, that was a good reality check.
No, the Seattle Seahawks do not have a “could win if…” situation. They got their asses kicked by the Chicago Bears in a 34-17 game that was somehow both not as close and closer than the final score indicated. Seattle can’t play the “almost lost” game this time. It was a well-deserved win for the Bears and a humbling loss for the Super Bowl champs.
It’s late and instead of preparing for Enemy Reaction, here I am writing yet another disappointing Winners and Losers column on the cusp of midnight.
Jaxon Smith-Njigba is the offense of the Seahawks
I repeat, Jaxon Smith-Njigba is the Seahawks offense. He had almost 1,000 yards receiving through eight games, and he was honestly cheated out of that because of some “run play” that was almost backwards. There is no better receiver in the NFL and Seattle is blessed to have him now and long term.
Irv Charles argued on special teams
Minus a foul penalty, which at that point probably didn’t win the game, I see the outlook for Irv as a special teams superstar. He overthrew a Michael Dickson punt inside the 10 (making Rodney Thomas lose), tackled kick return duties, balled out as a gunner, and had a deflected punt that unfortunately went 45 yards. He is worth a conditional 7th in 2028.
Zach Charbonnet’s return is a personal victory for him
Charbonnet had just 23 yards on six carries and it’s not like the offensive line is opening up too many holes. I think for him it’s an accomplishment to be back on the field 10 months after an ACL tear. There is a lot of rehab and hard work to be done to be available when a January injury of that severity can cost you everything for the next year. I want to highlight that for Charbs.
DeMarcus Lawrence keeps Seattle in the game
For the first time all season (unless you count Deebo Samuel dropping the ball because he blew out his hamstring), a Seahawks defender forced a fumble on a non-quarterback. Tank gets the FF and the FR. I hope this swan song goes well.
Sam Darnold is terrible
Outside of a deep shot to Jaxon Smith-Njigba for a touchdown, what good did Darnold do? Avoid sacks? Nope. Throw in time? Not really. Throw accurately on a consistent basis? Nope. The offensive line is bad and Brian Fleury’s shelf life as an OC is certainly in question now, but Darnold’s statistical downturn can be traced back to a four-interception meltdown against the Los Angeles Rams. With a few exceptions (most notably and thanks to the NFC Championship Game), Darnold has tended to be an average quarterback at best for a nearly 18-game stretch. And if you think I’m being unfair lumping Kubiak’s season into Fleury games, he didn’t finish the regular season well in 2025. The run game just heated up in time to replace some of the explosives lost in the passing game.
He touched the wrong quadrant at the back-end of 2025 but saved things with a great playoff run. He returned to the wrong quadrant in 2026.
That was a performance worse than any of the Denver Broncos or San Francisco 49ers losses. We can probably hold off on “start Drew Lock” while Lock takes care of his own injury, but at least he’s not in any contract extension territory. He can play out his contract in 2027 or leave earlier than that if things don’t turn out positive.
Brian Fleury has a problem
That week-long reprieve where he seemed to find the magical potion must have gone quickly. Why are the Seahawks getting old and rallying by 10 in the 4th quarter? Why do they call so many run plays on the right side of the line? No urgency, no easy offense, no cohesiveness, no sensible gameplan. They got stuck in the red zone again because they got burned first on a certain run play and didn’t take an end zone shot. I’m sure he interviews well and knows the ball, but there are plenty of great mathematicians who make terrible teachers. Fleury is not a good OC right now and the repeated dysfunction in situational football and the general flow of the game is reaching unreliable status.
Mike Macdonald moved on from Ryan Grubb after one season and probably would have moved on sooner if he wasn’t a rookie head coach. Fleury might not be here past the bye week given how broken the offense is. I can’t blame Fleury when guys fumble or when Sam Darnold goes into self-destruct mode without being forced to, but I can blame him to some degree when the offense as a whole doesn’t look well coached.
The offensive line is a mess
It’s not entirely unexpected when you have a backup left tackle and a left guard who is now a right guard because the new left guard is Quenton Nelson. There will be trouble arranging everything. It is not a well functioning unit even though it is healthy. Abe Lucas continues to struggle and is more concerned about his physical health than anything else. Zabel became owned by Jeffery Simmons from the jump, and the Bears routinely got pressure at the four. Forget about run game woes.
It should be a strength and could be a strength when Charles Cross comes back and we find out about Jalen Sundell’s injury, but right now they’re complicity to a first-degree felony which is this offense.
Nick Emmanwori was taken all night
A week after one of the best games of his career, it was a tough night for Emmanwori in terms of run defense and tackling. Between the missed tackles, losing a touchdown to Luther Burden, and some poor reps against Colston Loveland, this was easily one of his more disappointing outings. The screen to Kalif Raymond was the dagger and he was blocked out on the play. Ben Johnson made him take over and he didn’t have any positive effects.
And the roughness penalty (again!) he got when the game was still reasonably in doubt was selfish and he deserves as much criticism for that as we regularly give Riq Woolen. He did that twice in less than a month and it led to points both times.
Rylie Mills’ training camp did not translate into positive regular season play
It’s not like the Seahawks run defense has struggled or anything, but Mills entering the game is a signal to the opposition to run at him. He gets backed off too easily by double teams, struggles with his anchor, and doesn’t offer enough as a pass rusher. This leaves Seattle three-deep on the interior with Leonard Williams, Byron Murphy II, and Jarran Reed. I can’t imagine justifying more snaps for Mills if Williams has to miss time.
Special teams outside of Irv Charles is not good
In fact, most of them are bad. Rodney Thomas inexplicably took a punt down at the 2 and slid himself and the ball into the end zone. That ball’s trajectory was leaving the end zone and the Bears gained 18 yards of field position before scoring a touchdown.
Jason Myers shanked a PAT and later had a short field goal blocked. Mike Morris made a really stupid late hit on a kick return that gave the Bears amazing field position. Even Irv Charles, who was having a good night, ruined it with his own silly penalty.
Mike Macdonald has to own up to being completely unprepared
Coach Macdonald won the Super Bowl and Seattle won more than they lost in two and a half seasons with him at the helm. It’s as bad a three-phase effort as this team has come up with. Maybe not since the Buffalo Bills blowout two years ago, or the Green Bay Packers blowout in primetime.
The defense gave up an opening drive touchdown, didn’t have many answers for the intermediate play-action game, fell behind in the game’s most important third because they still couldn’t stop quick screening receivers, and the poor discipline and loss of their heads on personal fouls was a reflection of a coaching staff that didn’t bring its players together.
Coach has to own it as we applaud Pete Carroll for a similar showing.
Seattle’s playoff hopes aren’t in jeopardy but they’re not sure
Throw out the NFC East and probably the NFC South because those are tough divisions. Seattle is fighting to finish second in the NFC West and at least one NFC North team, or else the NFC North could have it all to make the postseason. This team doesn’t play enough football to reliably beat literally any NFL team comfortably—just look at the mess in the Los Angeles Chargers game—and can’t be the favorites to beat the 49ers in a rematch. They need to prove themselves again as they have lost four of six and looked discombobulated on offense and at times on special teams.
Expecting the defense to be superhuman every week is a losing strategy. This is nowhere near what we saw in 2025.
- Tory Horton rocked his world to start the game but he really didn’t impress with his catch-point strength. I noticed it last year and it showed up again this year. Seattle may need to rethink its WR group outside of JSN next season.
- Jadarian Price seemed hesitant to cut upfield the few times Seattle actually created space. I would consider this rust combined with issues along the OL. At least he didn’t make a mistake.
- Byron Murphy II and Leonard Williams provided good interior pressure, but the sides were surprisingly unable to produce a full crowd.
- I think Nehemiah Pritchett should break up with Josh Jobe. It wasn’t a good night overall for Jobe in terms of pass coverage and Pritchett has been impressive every week. He may not be an outside corner based on how Seattle used him, but he has the frame so why not give him more opportunities. Also for Tyrice Knight to get more snaps, as he’s made enough strides to get back into the rotation.
- It’s almost midnight. I was tapped. More to write on Tuesday and throughout the week. If Seattle gets to the bye at 6-4 at least there is hope. Anything less than that and I think they’re cooked, because they don’t have much room for error the rest of the way.