THE APEX TIMES
Seattle’s pass protection and third-down efficiency faltered, red-zone chances stalled, and a few special-teams swings helped Chicago turn momentum into points in the Monday night loss.
The Seahawks’ offense struggled to find consistent rhythm against the Bears, and that lack of sustained success showed up on the downs that usually decide games. Seattle entered the fourth quarter down two scores and could not string together enough third-down conversions to close the gap.
After a more promising week against the Chiefs, Seattle again ran into problems moving the ball consistently. The Seahawks did have bright moments, including touchdowns by Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Cooper Kupp, plus flashes from Jadarian Price and Zach Charbonnet during their returns from injury, but the overall offensive output did not match what the team needed.
Third downs were a major issue. After a strong third-down showing the previous week, Seattle went 1-for-11 on Monday, often facing third-and-long. Quarterback Sam Darnold was sacked three times and hit hard on other plays, and his tipped pass was intercepted late in the sequence that gave Chicago the ball in the red zone.
Seattle also repeatedly bogged down in the red zone. The Seahawks settled for field goals on two of four red-zone possessions, with one of those attempts resulting in a blocked kick, and their final red-zone trip ended with a turnover on downs late in the fourth quarter.
Defensively, Seattle was not the only reason the Bears moved the ball. While the Seahawks limited Chicago’s ground game to a 3.6 yards-per-carry average and forced a turnover, the Bears converted third downs efficiently and produced multiple long scoring drives, including drives of 80, 69 and 56 yards.
Still, the Seahawks had moments to swing momentum. In the fourth quarter, a blocked field goal attempt was followed by a big strip-sack play by DeMarcus Lawrence after a short completion to Colston Loveland, leading to a touchdown pass to Kupp that made it a one-score game.
Special teams also cost Seattle points and field position. A punt bounce went into the end zone for a touchback, penalties hurt return positioning, and Jason Myers missed an extra point and also had a field goal blocked, adding to the scoreboard gap the Seahawks had to overcome.
With the loss dropping Seattle to 4-4, the immediate takeaway is that the offense’s third-down and red-zone shortcomings prevented the Seahawks from building the kind of complementary, multi-phase game they are capable of playing.