Snowed out: Seahawks yield often late, lose to Bears 25-24, get snowballs thrown at them
It ended as badly as these sunken Seahawks have gone.
With the frozen home fans throwing snowballs at the field.
But the Seahawks’ latest of 10 defeats in 15 games — blowing two leads of 10 points in the second half and falling 25-24 in the snow at booing Lumen Field to one of the only teams in the NFL worse than they were entering Sunday — really came half a quarter before it actually ended.
“That was about as disappointing a loss as we’ve had,” Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said.
Here’s why:
Russell Wilson had a third and 4 at the Chicago 8-yard line, and a 24-17 lead. He had three, potentially game-sealing points in his back pocket. A scramble run, an incomplete pass, no gain — anything but what happened — and the Seahawks had a chip-shot field goal on the next snap for a two-score lead on the 4-10 Bears with 8 minutes left.
On the third down Wilson saw DK Metcalf outside to his route. The Bears had a cornerback on him, and a safety behind that, for bracket coverage. Wilson then looked at tight end Gerald Everett over the middle. Also covered. Running back DeeJay Dallas might have been open 2 yards past the line of scrimmage, but not by a lot.
So Wilson did what he’s done for many of his best moments over 10 seasons. He spun away from a pass rusher, Robert Quinn, to extend the play and give improvisational guru Tyler Lockett time to get open on one of his uncanny improvisational routes down the field.
Except Quinn is no pedestrian defensive end. He’s a former All-Pro and three-time Pro Bowl sack man. Now 33, Wilson could not get away from Quinn. He threw Wilson down for a 13-yard sack.
Instead of that 26-yard field goal, Jason Myers came onto the snowy field for a 39-yard field goal. It’s a kick a veteran NFL kicker should make. But the slick, covered field and a biting wind sometimes to 20 mph didn’t help.
Myers missed.
Carroll criticized.
“That’s a clear situation where we gave them an opportunity to get some momentum from us,” the coach said.
“In that situation that third down in field-goal range to go up by 10, we’ve got to get rid of the football. We can’t take a sack there, and we need to look at what happened on that play. Again, that’s what I’m talking about. I’ve got to get that done. I’ve got to get them to execute that way. I’ve got to get Russ to pull that off. I’ve got to get the coaches to make sure we reminded him well enough so that didn’t happen.
“You sail out it out of the end zone right there, kick the field goal.”
“I feel like I have to do more,” Carroll said, including, the coach said, reminding his veteran quarterback not to take a sack with a potential game-clinching field goal from the 8-yard line in hand.
Wilson explained he was doing what he’s done for 10, mostly wondrous seasons for the Seahawks, including for their only Super Bowl win at the end of the 2013 season.
It feels like a lifetime ago right now.
“I’d been moving well for most of the day, so once it wasn’t there — we’ve hit so many scramble opportunities — I was looking for Tyler, seeing if he could move around, just trying to get away,” Wilson said. “Knowing that, ‘OK, we’ll still be, no matter what, near field-goal range, obviously. We are inside of it now.”
Essentially, Wilson tried for seven points when three likely would have been just as good, likely would have won yet another game the Seahawks are convinced they let get away.
“The risk-reward was, trying to score a touchdown,” Wilson said. “We’ve done it so many times, to Tyler, to other guys. Unfortunately we weren’t able to make that play. Then, obviously, the situation happens where we don’t end up making (the field goal).
“You know, I was trying to play ball like I know how to do, and always do, and try to move around and see if we can find a touchdown there. Especially that close. It’s one of those things, if I can run it in there, if I can slide to the left, slide to the right, move some guy open, touchdown.”
Not this day. Not most of this lost Seahawks season.
In the end, Seattle’s recently improved defense was no better than the offense.
The Seahawks allowed the Bears and third-stringer Nick Foles 200 yards of offense in the second half. They allowed Darnell Mooney to break tackles for a 30-yard catch while end Darrell Taylor was roughing the passer for 15 more yards. That was on the first play of Chicago’s final drive. Not the optimal way for Seattle to protect a seven-point lead with the ball at the Bears 20 with 2:56 to play.
That drive ended when Foles threw a 15-yard touchdown pass to Jimmy Graham — remember him? — with 1:01 left, into the same north end zone that has been the scene of so many dramatic endings to Seahawks home games in recent years.
“We can let them drive down the field defensively,” end Carlos Dunlap said after his latest big game, two sacks and three hits on the quarterback.
“Bittersweet. Still.”
Endangered coach Matt Nagy and his four-win Bears then went for the 2-point conversion and the win. Foles rolled right and threw high to covered Damiere Byrd at the back of the end zone. Byrd caught the pass over safety Ryan Neal and linebacker Jordyn Brooks. Byrd then incredibly got his foot and knee down the snowy turf inside the end line for the winning points before Seattle’s defenders could push him out of bounds.
Bobby Wagner set a franchise record with his 168th tackle this season.
Rasheem Green and Carlos Dunlap consistently broke through Chicago’s injured, porous offensive line to pressure Foles. Green had two sacks to give him a team-leading 6 1/2 this season. Green also hit Foles four times. Dunlap had a sack on first and goal and 2 minutes left, plus three more hits on the quarterback.
Yet that still wasn’t enough to win.
Playoffs?
Seattle is now 5-10, after losing to a third-string quarterback for the fourth time in 12 months.
“We were in control in so many ways in that game to put it away and go win it,” Carroll said. “We let them stay alive, and they find a way to make their plays.
“We had to do some stuff to give them the opportunity. ...
“I feel like I have to do more,” the 70-year-old Carroll said of the two games that remain, against one-win Detroit and at likely playoff-bound Arizona. “In times like this I feel I’ve got to find ways to help our guys more, so we don’t get into the situation that we give them a chance.
“That’s what I’m doing. I’m going to try to figure out how I can help and get us cleaner right down the stretch and win the football game and not give something up, the penalty that we get...We’ve got things we can do better. We’ve got to do better.
“And I’m asking them to do the same thing.”
Wilson’s final play, down 25-24, he got hit by former Super Bowl-winning teammate Bruce Irvin from that Seattle era so long ago. As he did, Wilson’s pass fluttered way wide of Lockett on fourth and 6 with 21 seconds left.
That — with the snowballs — is how the Seahawks ended their loss to a Chicago Bears team that doesn’t exactly fit their legendary Monsters of the Midway predecessors.
Wilson lost for the fifth time in seven games since returning from finger surgery on his throwing hand last month. He completed 16 of 27 passes for 181 yards and touchdown throws to DK Metcalf and Gerald Everett.
Rashaad Penny dashed through the snow for 135 yards on a career-high 17 carries.
Yet it still wasn’t enough to beat the out-of-it Bears.
“Honestly, this game, we should have definitely had this game,” Wilson, the franchise’s winningest QB, said.
“We let it squander away from us. That can’t happen.”
Why not more?
It looked so effortless. It was so effective.
So why hasn’t Wilson simply thrown the ball up for Metcalf like he did for a touchdown on third down in the first quarter Sunday, a pass that gave the Seahawks the early lead in the snow on the Bears?
Well, had Wilson and the offense gotten the look they got on third and 5 from the Bears 41 on their second drive of the game at Lumen Field all season, Seattle’s quarterback would have thrown to Metcalf 200 times by now this season.
The Seahawks got a day-after-Christmas gift from Chicago.
Metcalf got Thomas Graham lined up on him one on one in press coverage at the line of scrimmage. The Bears drafted Graham in the sixth round this past spring. The rookie is five inches shorter than Metcalf.
Yet the Bears left Graham alone on a snow-covered field with no safety help covering the deep pass down the right sideline 6 minutes into Sunday’s game. Wilson likely couldn’t believe his eyes seeing that opportunity. The quarterback took a couple steps of a drop back and was throwing all the way to Metcalf. He threw a jump ball that the 6-foot-4 receiver easily out-leaped Graham to get for a 41-yard touchdown.
Metcalf extended his team lead with his ninth touchdown catch of the season.
Five days earlier, Metcalf had been visibly frustrated not getting the ball from Wilson on multiple plays when he was open deep at the Los Angeles Rams. Wilson underthrew Metcalf when he was 5 yards past Rams All-Pro cornerback Jalen Ramsey with 8 minutes left in Tuesday’s game. A decent pass would have tied that game Seattle ended up losing 20-10.
Wilson also had his arm hit while trying to throw to the end zone to an in-the-clear Metcalf late in the first quarter. That pass flailed accidentally to tight end Gerald Everett for a 34-yard gain to set up Seattle’s only points, a field goal, of the first half against the Rams Tuesday.
Sunday’s easy pitch and catch in the snow was Wilson’s 17th touchdown pass of the season, against five interceptions.
Penny back into plans?
He’s finally healthy. And staying healthy.
Is Penny finally playing his way back into Seattle’s plans for 2022?
“Hope so,” he said after this third-to-last game of his contract.
Penny dashed through the snow Sunday like a graceful deer — and not the frustrating, often-injured running back of the last four seasons before this month.
Sunday was the first time in his frustrating, four-year career Penny had started three consecutive games. Two weeks after his career day of 137 yards on 16 carries with two touchdowns in the Seahawks’ win at Houston, Penny romped with the confidence of a starter.
His 32-yard sprint around right end got Seattle into the red zone midway through the fourth quarter with a chance to restore its two-score lead. But then Penny vanished to the sideline. Dallas replaced him for the rest of the drive. It drive stalled.
That’s when Wilson took the third-down sack Myers missed that 39-yard field goal. And the Seahawks remained ahead only 24-17.
Penny said he was tired, “maybe needed a drink of water.”
Carroll said he was yelling for Penny to get back in the game. It’s not inconceivable the Seahawks run on third and 4 instead of calling a pass play and Wilson taking the costly sack if Penny was available.
“I think he was gassed after the run. I was hollering at him, too, but he needed to come out.” Carroll said.
“Yes, I was trying to get him to go back in, but he had something. I didn’t ask him what it was.”
On the Bears’ ensuing drive, fill-in cornerback John Reid broke up a third-down pass at the line to gain. On fourth and 4, Foles appeared to have room to scramble for the first down. But Brooks raced at him, threatening to plant the quarterback into the snowy turf. So Foles threw a low-percentage pass incomplete into coverage down the left sideline by safety Ryan Neal instead.
Seattle took over on downs at midfield with 5 1/2 minutes left, still up by 24-17.
Wilson and the offense had another chance to add on to that lead. But after Seattle advanced to the Chicago 30, tight end Colby Parkinson was penalized for holding. Wilson’s flip outside to rookie Dee Eskridge lost 3 yards. The Seahawks were out of range to try a field goal and punted.
“I think about all the great seasons, all the great moments we’ve had. This season in particular, it feels like if we had lead...we can finish better,” Wilson said. “We have to be able to finish better, in my opinion, on offense. ...
“We had two great opportunities...That’s really the game.”
Green, Dunlap disrupt
Chicago had injuries across its already weak offensive line.
Dunlap, Rasheem Green and the Seahawks’ defensive front made it weaker. Until the decisive end, that is.
Dunlap continued his late-season excellence after coaches mothballed the 32-year-old veteran defensive end last month. Dunlap hit Foles into what was originally ruled a Bears lost fumble in the first half but became an incomplete pass upon replay review.
“He has just turned it,” Carroll said of Dunlap’s season. “The plays are similar; it’s all power. It’s an outstanding surge with him at the end of the season.”
Even three Seahawks were beating five Bears offensive linemen to get to Foles. Green got one of his two sacks when tackle Al Woods dropped into middle zone coverage as a 360-pound linebacker.
Green’s two sacks give him a team-leading 6 1/2 this season. The former second-round pick, like Penny, is at the end of his rookie contract.
Brooks improvement
Brooks continued to be the best Seahawks defensive player the last month of the season.
The first-round pick in 2020 has vastly improved defending screen passes since September, when Tennessee and Minnesota victimized him repeatedly in Seattle losses. As he showed against the Rams last week, Brooks is so much quicker to recognize and make tackles short of the line to gain on screens now.
Brooks impacted Sunday’s game right away. Chicago marched 16 plays to the Seattle 4-yard line in the first quarter. On fourth and goal, Foles passed quickly to running back David Montgomery in the right flat. Brooks slammed into Montgomery immediately upon the catch, dropping him 2 yards from the goal line for a turnover on downs.
Brooks finished with 10 tackles, one fewer than the All-Pro Wagner next to him at linebacker. Brooks has 156 tackles this season, 11 fewer than the Seahawks season record Wagner had until he broke it Sunday.
Asked what the mood was in the Seahawks’ locker room following their latest loss, Brooks spat out: “Disappointed.”
Plan C at corner
With starting right cornerback D.J. Reed still on the reserve/COVID-19 list and his replacement last week at Los Angeles, Bless Austin, added to the COVID list this weekend, second-year man John Reid made his first Seahawks start.
The former Houston Texan Seattle traded for at the end of the preseason was called for pass interference holding Marquise Goodwin as the Bears wide receiver was accelerating into a fly pattern down the left side in the third quarter. That 21-yard penalty got Chicago off its goal line.
The drive ended with Khalil Herbert running free off left tackle 20 yards for a touchdown. The rookie and his Bears teammates celebrated at the railing of the south stands, standing in piled snow. Only one, small snowball came down at them as they danced.
Seattle’s lead was down to 17-14.
This story was originally published December 26, 2021 at 4:18 PM with the headline "Snowed out: Seahawks yield often late, lose to Bears 25-24, get snowballs thrown at them."
