CHICAGO | Wilson, Seahawks offense struggle against Bears
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CHICAGO | Wilson, Seahawks offense struggle against Bears
CHICAGO — Russell Wilson looked to his left and his right. He looked for help in the middle of the field. He looked short and he looked for deep balls.
It was that kind of Monday night for the Seattle Seahawks.
Wilson was surrounded for most of Seattle’s 24-17 loss to the Chicago Bears, and he got very little help from his teammates until the fourth quarter. He was sacked six times for the second straight week, including five in the first half, and made a game-sealing mistake in the final period.
“We’re still a work in progress,” coach Pete Carroll said. “You can see how hard our guys played, see how they fought throughout all the way to the last seconds on the clock.”
Seattle (0-2) played without guard D.J. Fluker and receiver Doug Baldwin due to injuries, and Baldwin’s absence was particularly noticeable. Tyler Lockett was the Seahawks’ top receiver with five catches for 60 yards, but he got most of his numbers in the fourth. Brandon Marshall struggled to get open against one of his former teams.
“I can always do better,” Marshall said. “There’s some things I definitely have to clean up. Just got to be sharper in everything that I do. We got to find a way to make plays.”
The rushing attack also was shut down by Chicago’s refurbished defense, finishing with 74 yards on 22 carries. Seattle went almost 24 minutes of game time between rushing plays at one point.
Wilson began the fourth quarter with just 69 yards on 9-for-20 passing, but he tried to rally the Seahawks down the stretch.
“The fourth quarter showed us who we are and who we can be,” Wilson said. “We just got to get a better start and try to figure out how to catch that fire that we had in the fourth quarter, let’s put it in the first, second, third if we can do that, which I don’t think we’re far off by any means.”
The four-time Pro Bowler found Lockett for 20 yards and tight end Nathan Vannett for 11 to move Seattle deep into Chicago territory. He then threw a 19-yard touchdown pass to Lockett to trim the Bears’ lead to 17-10 with 10:13 left.
Chicago (1-1) went three and out on the ensuing drive and punted the ball right back to Seattle. But Wilson’s pass intended for Rashaad Penny near midfield was picked off by Prince Amukamara, who returned his first interception since 2015 for his first career touchdown with 6:37 remaining.
“You can’t even remember the last time Russ did that,” Carroll said.
Wilson also lost a fumble on Seattle’s next drive. He passed to Will Dissly for a 2-yard touchdown with 14 seconds to go, but the Seahawks’ onside kick was unsuccessful and the Bears ran out the clock.
The lackluster showing for Seattle’s offense wasted a solid performance for its defense, led by two second-quarter interceptions for Shaquill Griffin. The second-year cornerback made a nice play on an underthrown ball by Mitchell Trubisky, and then had a diving grab on a tipped ball.
Mychal Kendricks had one of Seattle’s two sacks in his first game since he signed with the Seahawks on Friday. Kendricks pleaded guilty last week to insider trading charges, but he isn’t expected to be sentenced in the case until January and the NFL has yet to impose any discipline.
“Just having this opportunity to play it means so much more to me,” said Kendricks, who was released by Cleveland on Aug. 29 after the charges were filed. “That being said, I plan on doing the most with it.”
It just wasn’t enough, not with the Seahawks’ ineffective offense.
Wilson was 22 for 36 for 226 yards. Penny was the top rusher with 10 carries for 30 yards as Seattle possessed the ball for just 25 1/2 minutes.
“The fighter mentality in me is always going to be there so you can’t play scared,” Wilson said. “You got to be able to go for it. I think we were still able to do that. We had a lot of fourth-quarter comebacks and I believe those are going to happen.”
By JAY COHEN, Associated Press
