Leonard Williams, defense, Mike Macdonald all-out blitz call push Seahawks past Bears 6-3
Geno Smith got sacked — tripping over his own running back.
The Seahawks saved themselves from a fumble return for a touchdown, because their tight end’s leg touched a guy on the ground.
This was ugly. Christmas-sweaters, coal-in-stockings nasty.
But what about this Seahawks season has been beautiful?
“It’s not always going to be sunshine and rainbows, man,” Seattle quarterback Geno Smith said on his way out of this Chicago escape Thursday night.
Two field goals by Jason Myers, seven sacks by six different players, including two by defensive end Leonard Williams, and coach Mike Macdonald’s all-out blitz call on the Bears’ final play, in Seattle territory, is how the Seahawks got out of Soldier Field on a short Christmas week with a 6-3 victory to stay alive for the playoffs.
“We are the strength of this team,” middle linebacker Ernest Jones said in a bumpin’ visiting locker room at Soldier Field late Thursday night. “We had to go out there and be that, wholeheartedly, today.”
Defensive tackle Jarran Reed got one of those seven sacks. To celebrate it, he did a two-pump, hip-shake sack dance he said Michael Bennett personally approved he do, to honor the Seahawks’ former Super Bowl-winning defensive end. He kept it to two pumps, because he learned from Bennett three will get you an NFL fine.
Reed said his defense was, well...pumped with this one.
“The game was on us,” Reed said. “We were talking to each other on the field. We were saying ‘It’s on us.’”
It was the lowest-scoring game in the NFL this season. It tied for the lowest-scoring game in the 48-year history of the Seahawks, with a forgettable, 6-3 loss at Cleveland in 2011.
At times the Seahawks (9-7), who flew across the country on Christmas Day three days after they lost at home to Minnesota, were just trying to get through it.
“We knew it was going to be something we had to gut through,” Smith said.
The two-time Pro Bowl quarterback completed 17 of 23, mostly short passes for 160 yards. He and the Seahawks offense could not sustain drives all night.
So it was left to Macdonald’s Seattle defense.
The rookie head coach, and his unit, won the game.
Bears rookie quarterback Caleb Williams converted a fourth and 6 against a triple blitz Macdonald called with just over 2 minutes left. A 15-yard pass off Williams’ back foot to DK Moore gave Chicago a first down near midfield. But on first down Williams fumbled a shotgun snap. By the time Chicago’s QB picked up the ball, Leonard Williams had his second sack of the game.
On third and 14, Caleb Williams scrambled and completed a pass to former Washington Husky Rome Odunze for 15 yards to the Seattle 40-yard line. With 20 seconds left on fourth and 10 from the 40, the Bears did not try a 58-yard field goal to tie.
Macdonald put nine defenders on the line. He rushed seven of them, the defensive tackle Jarran Reed and linebacker Dre’Mont Jones peeled off into coverage The offensive line for the Bears (4-12, losers of 10 straight games) got overwhelmed. Safety Coby Bryant blitzed free off the left edge into Caleb Williams, who chucked a desperation heave to the middle of the field. Cornerback Tariq Woolen intercepted that, easily.
And the Seahawks won.
On the sideline, coaches and players slapped Macdonald on the back and shoulder for his all-out-blitz call. It’s a play he put in two weeks ago in a practice.
For the defensive-guru coach, it was a moment he lives for. It’s why the Seahawks hired him away from coordinating the NFL’s best, most attacking defense with the Baltimore Ravens last season.
“Our guys were excited about getting to that particular call. Man, I mean, you just call something you haven’t executed and it’s basically the season is on the line, and just shows, hey, our guys can handle it,” Macdonald said.
“They’ve earned that confidence to call those types of high leverage plays.
“I know Spoon was asking for it,” Macdonald said of excitable cornerback Devon Witherspoon, who had another brilliant game.
“So when Spoon is excited about it then we’re excited about it.”
And Seattle stayed in contention for a playoff spot.
It was the second time this month Macdonald said Bryant on a blitz. The first time was Dec. 1 at the New York Jets. Bryant forced Aaron Rodgers into a wild pass incomplete to the goal line on New York’s final offensive play to seal another Seattle road win, 26-21.
“Oh, it’s extremely fun. To be able to seal the game when I’m blitzing? I’ve got to show up,” Bryant said.
“I was excited, man. Blitzing on the last play? It doesn’t get any better than that.”
The Seahawks (9-7) got their fifth consecutive road win, tying the second-longest road streak in franchise history. They are 6-1 on the road. They are going to be the first team in NFL history to lose six games at home and still finish the season with a winning record.
They now need eliminated Arizona (7-8) to beat the first-place Rams (9-6) in Inglewood, California. That would make Seattle’s game next week at Los Angeles for the NFC West title and home playoff game.
The Seahawks could still make the playoffs with the Rams winning Saturday and then Seattle beating L.A. the first weekend of January, but only if they get massive help for a strength-of-victory tiebreaker.
“Honestly, we shouldn’t be in this position. That’s the main thing. Understanding that we got to control our destiny when we can,” Smith said, thinking of wins that got away in losses to Minnesota last week, the Rams in overtime last month, the two-win Giants beating Seattle in Lumen Field in October.
“Yeah, I’m going to be a big Kyler Murray fan on Saturday. If they get it done they get it done. We’re going to go into the last week of the season with the same mindset no matter what.”
Jones, a former Ram who won a Super Bowl with Los Angeles, said after this win Thursday night he was seeking divine intervention to aid Kyler Murray and the Cardinals to win Saturday.
“Yeah, I’ll watch the game” Jones said. “And pray, hopefully, the Cardinals can win so (week) 18 can be for all the marbles.”
Running game without Kenneth Walker
Hours after the Seahawks put lead runner Kenneth Walker on injured reserve with what general manager John Schneider said is a high-ankle sprain, Seattle rushed for 53 yards on the opening drive. That was 29 yards by Charbonnet and 24 by third back Kenny McIntosh. That set up offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb to use what he’s rarely been able to effectively all season: the play-action pass.
Smith used it to throw to his wide receivers, tight end Noah Fant, to Charbonnet. Smith faked his handoffs to throw while under center, and out of shotgun. It was more the array of the playbook Grubb has been trying to get to.
“I noticed the (line)backers were being more affected by the play action the better we were running,” Smith said. “Like I said, the more we stay balanced.
“I thought Grubb called a great game. He dialed up some shots when he needed to and gave us a chance to be balanced. When Zach is running like that, Kenny McIntosh came in and ran the ball well, we’re going to be a tough team.”
Still, a week after Smith threw for 314 yards on 13-2 Minnesota, he and the Seahawks’ offense slogged to just 265 total yards. Seattle didn’t score a touchdown. The Seahawks’ Michael Dickson punted six times against the league’s 26th-ranked defense, against a 4-12 team that’s lost 10 straight games.
“We’ve got to get better,” Smith said. “There were things that we left out there on the field in my opinion. We want to work on those things.”
Crisis--and lead lost--averted
For a moment, it appeared the Bears had taken a 9-6 lead late in the third quarter.
Seahawks tight end Pharaoh Brown lost the ball while falling onto a Bear going down into a tackle pile at the end of a short catch and run. Chicago’s Kyler Gordon came out of the pile with the ball. The Seahawks thought Brown was down and it wasn’t a fumble, so no one reacted to Gordon walking then jogging 62 yards to the opposite goal line. Referee Scott Novak announced the ruling on the field was a fumble recovery and apparent touchdown for Chicago.
One official told Smith he had Gordon ruled down upon him grabbing the ball on the ground. A second official told the quarterback he didn’t have Gordon down and it is a touchdown.
On the Seahawks sideline, Macdonald looked ill.
“Was I worried? Yeah,” the 37-year-old coach said.
“Pretty consistently worried about a lot of stuff.”
But a quick review of the video replay by the league’s officating office in New York determined Brown’s leg was contacting Gordon as the Bears defensive back got off the ground to begin his leisurely return. Gordon was ruled down by contact. Seattle stayed ahead 6-3, because of its tight end’s leg.
It was the third time the Seahawks had moved the ball into Chicago territory. They had only two field goals to show for it into the fourth quarter.
2-minute drill works again
Grubb and Smith continued to be at their best in hurry-up mode. The Seahawks used another effective 2-minute drill at the end of the first half to take the lead. And they overcame a return of extra-curriculars about DK Metcalf to do it.
On the first play of the possession with 2:32 left in the second quarter, after Chicago had tied the game, Charbonnet ran for 9 yards. But Metcalf and Chicago defensive back Tyrique Stevenson pushed at each other at the end of the play. Metcalf didn’t like one of Stevenson’s shoves. He pushed the Bears DB three times with arm and hand thrusts into Stevenson’s face mask. That drew two penalty flags. Officials penalized Metcalf for unnecessary roughness, turning second and 1 into a second and 16.
Grubb then called two tunnel-screen passes to tight end Noah Fant, for 13 and 12 yards. That got Seattle to midfield. Smith’s 14-yard pass to Metcalf inside set up Jason Myers’ 50-yard field goal with 26 seconds left in the half. The Seahawks led 6-3.
It was Myers’ eighth field goal this season made from 50 or more yards, extending his franchise record. It set a season-high for Myers in his 10-year NFL career.
Devon Witherspoon. Again.
Cornerback Devon Witherspoon continued his brilliant season, though minus some of the interceptions, touchdowns and sacks he had when he made the Pro Bowl as a rookie and fifth-overall pick in the 2023 NFL draft.
Witherspoon started and played most of the game inside as the slot cornerback in nickel defense. He had three tackles for losses. The third was in the third quarter, on an all-hustle play that makes him a weekly staple on the coaches’ film meetings with the team. From the other side of the field, he ran inside to stop Bears running back D’Andre Swift running to his left on a tunnel screen.
“It’s his second year and he’s grown so much as a leader and someone we’re going to depend on for a long time here,” Macdonald said. “We love him. And it’s because of the energy and the competitiveness and the person and his love of the game and love for his teammates.
“It’s infectious. How can you not play 1000% when 21 is on the field doing the stuff that he does? We talk about force multiplier. He’s a force multiplier.”
Witherspoon also got his first sack of the season. It was a generously scored one, forcing Bears quarterback Williams to run out of bounds to avoid his hit at the end of a scramble for zero yards.
“I didn’t even know it was a sack until after the game,” Witherspoon said, grinning.
Josh Jobe injured
Cornerback Josh Jobe, claimed off waivers from Philadelphia this summer, started his sixth game of the season. He was outside at cornerback when Witherspoon was inside as the nickel defensive back, as he was most of the game.
Jobe had four tackles before he left in the fourth quarter with a knee injury.
Jobe’s injury is why third safety Rayshawn Jenkins was on the field for his third-down sack of Williams to end a Chicago drive to midfield to preserve Seattle’s 6-3 lead.
The Seahawks now don’t play for 10 days.
“Like a patella or something in his knee. Again, you get me on the medical terms,” Macdonald said. “It’s like, ‘How much time, man? How much time?’
“We’ll see. We’ll see as it goes. We are fortunate we have an extra couple days to treat him.”
This story was originally published December 26, 2024 at 8:07 PM.
