CHICAGO – After relying on Marshawn Lynch to carry the load during the second half of this season, the Seattle Seahawks leaned on quarterback Tarvaris Jackson against Chicago on Sunday.
And after a miserable first half, Jackson responded by completing 15 of 19 passes for 176 yards and a 2-yard touchdown pass to fullback Michael Robinson, leading Seattle to 31 unanswered points in the second half.
The catalyst to Jackson’s impressive performance was a five-play, 80-yard drive to open the second half. Jackson completed three out of four passes on that drive, including a 33-yard reception on third-and- 9 from Seattle’s 21-yard line.
A play later, Jackson found Ben Obomanu, who was running down the sideline a couple steps ahead of Chicago cornerback Tim Jennings for a 43-yard completion. Lynch then bulled his way into the end zone from three yards out.
“They went right down the field and scored on us,” Chicago linebacker Brian Urlacher said. “It was all downhill from there.”
The Seahawks expected the Bears to play their traditional Tampa 2 scheme with two safeties deep. Instead, the Seahawks saw more single coverage with one safety over the top, and took advantage of that with some explosive plays. Jackson had four passing plays of 20-or-more yards against the Bears.
“We just had more opportunities I feel than we did in the first half,” Jackson said about his play in the final two quarters. “We didn’t have too many possessions and there were like two or three that we were back up on the 1-yard line.”
Jackson finished 19-for- 31 passing for 227 yards and a 94.4 passer rating. Jackson is now 7-5 as a starter. He’s thrown for 2,706 yards, 12 touchdowns and 12 interceptions, while completing 60.7 percent of his passes.
More important, Jackson has just three turnovers in the past four games.
“I was really pleased that he was making the step to count on the defense, and punt the football,” Seattle coach Pete Carroll said. “He just threw the ball out of bounds about four times today, which was great for him. That’s something that he hasn’t been doing consistently because he just wants to make those first downs. So that’s a good statement he made today.”
As good as Jackson was in the second half, he was just as bad to open the game. Jackson was 4-for-12 passing for 51 yards in the first half, including a costly fumble in the end zone where he was stripped by Chicago defensive end Julius Peppers. Bears defensive end Israel Idonije recovered the loose ball for a touchdown.
“I just held onto the ball too long,” Jackson said.
Seahawks defensive end Chris Clemson said that even though Seattle’s offense struggled in the opening half, he still believed they eventually would get things turned around.
“We always have confidence in Tarvaris,” Clemons said. “We’ve seen him do it in Minnesota, and when he got here early in the year we’ve seen a lot of flashes of him doing that.
“Our thing is we control what we control on defense, and allow the offense and special teams to do what they do every week.”
Eric D. Williams: 253-597-8437
eric.williams@thenewstribune.com
blog.thenewstribune.com/seahawks
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