Fourth Quarter
Scintillating.
- It would be a career long for Santos so they are going for it. All out blitz and Williams’ streak ends as Riq Woolen intercepts a lobbed pass to Keenan Allen. Game over.
- Williams overthrows Moore badly at the 10. Fourth-and-10. No sign of Cairo Santos for a 58-yarder.
- Incomplete deep ball to Odunze, just out of his reach diving at the sidelines.
- Williams lines up and something is wrong so he wastes a timeout. Now they have one left, the ball is at Seattle’s 40 and there are 31 ticks left.
- Williams scramble, roll and throw to Odunze with 52 seconds left as the clock keeps running. A diving catch. After the completion, they let the clock run and then the next play’s incompletion takes it to 31 seconds. Starting to shape up as the Lions game again.
- Moore for 1 on a catch at the line. Another one.
- Buy low and sell high. After this performance, George couldn’t sell the team because they’re so awful.
- TWO-MINUTE WARNING!!!! as Williams fumbles snap and is sacked, moving it back to the 44. Second-an-15. The Bears have two timeouts left.
- The offense comes back, fans cheer and running backwards and sideways to elude the blitz, Williams hits leaping DJ Moore for a 15-yard gain and a first down as 56,346 fans erupt and quite booing George McCaskey. I’m surprised they’re not chanting “fire Poles.”
- Curhan false start and gutless Bears will punt with 2:14 to play. Fans boo them. Chant comes out “Sell the team, sell the team.”
- Second down screen to Allen gains nothing and it’s third-and-2 at the 38. Williams scrambles to the 40 but might be short. Officials took it away when it looked like he got it. The Bears have wasted about three minutes in their own end and there’s 2:14 left as Seattle calls timeout for fourth-and-inches.
- Swift refusing to go down! After a Williams scramble. Bears get it to the 30 on two runs and go no huddle. Then Williams scrambles out of bounds for 8 and tries to draw the Seahawks into a late hit penalty but officials aren’t biting.
- Time for a Rome Odunze back-shoulder throw.
- The Bears defense comes up big again with a third-down tackle by Daniel Hardy. Seattle punting but now it’s the Bears dealing with bad field position, way back at their 11 with 5:12 left. You have to think this could be their last chance with the way things have gone.
- Out of the hole with a long pass to the 40 to DK Metcalf. Sweat rushes a throwaway pass that actually gets caught for a 3-yard gain. Seahawks face third-and-6 at the 44.
- Jonathan Ford with the offsides penalty. The former Packer.
- After the fifth punt inside the 20, Seattle starts out at the 12 with 8:13 left until we can all leave.
- Swift drops a screen. Not sure he was ready for it then as Caleb rushed it but he had to. Swift should have been able to get the ball. Then Caleb sacked for the sixth time. Just tied the all-time Bears team record at 66 team sacks on the year. Set in 2004 when Craig Krenzel, Rex Grossman, Jonathan Quinn and the immortal Chad Hutchinson were sacked 66 times. Thanks for that Jerry Angelo.
- Another Swift double cut for a 3-yard gain. Hurries up and goes nowhere. Like in the army.
- Swift for 8 behind Curhan block. Then he comes up short by half a yard on second down. Big hole there and he didn’t lower his head and plow ahead for the first down. Chose to cut right instead. Fortunately, Roschon Johnson gets the first down on third-and-1. At the Bears 49.
- Time for a trick play. DJ Moore pass. Something gadgety.
- The one good thing about being at the game is you don’t have to listen to the Prime announcing crew ripping the two teams and yawning.
- Blackwell return on the punt to the 38, a nice 14-yard return. First down Bears with 11:43 to go.
- DeMarcus Williams gets Charbonnet for only a 1-yard gain but Smith-Njigba on the receiver screen gets them out of a hole. Third-and-3 coming and they don’t get it as T.J. tackles Charbonnet in the hole at the line.
- Seattle has a good built-in excuse. No practice this week, a short week and a holiday in the middle of it. Bears don’t have an excuse for the offense looking so bad.
- Bears MVP Tory Taylor with the punt to the 14. Four of his six punts have been inside the 20. When you get a stripped ball like Gordon got, you need to get something out of it. Good field position, no excuses there. Williams has to be better and the line does as well.
- Feeble screen to Moore coming across and the Bears gain 2 and punt. Fans very quiet, suddenly make noise. They start the booing.
- Bears have given up five sacks heading into fourth quarter. Nwosu bats down a second down pass and Bears face third-and-24.
Third Quarter
- Beautifully timed throw to Allen for a 4-yard gain and first down at Seattle’s 49. But all for naught as Williams gets sacked on the blitz by Uchenna Nwosu. He turned the wrong way to escape the rush and ran right into the blitzer from the edge. Quarter Ends.
- A 5-yarder to Keenan Allen on a screen behind Moore and they go no-huddle but Williams can’t get to the sticks on an RPO. Third-and-2 coming.
- If the officials could determine the ball had been stripped, which it had, why couldn’t they have seen right away he made contact with the offensive player one he had the ball. That was pretty obvious without the replay even. These officials all need their pay cut. Too many dumb things happen in games that they should be able to see.
- Kyler Gordon strips the ball and takes it back for a TD but it appeared he made contact at the Bears 38 and he did. First down Bears at their 38. A forced fumble and recovery by Gordon, who has been all over the field tonight with hits and heady play. Now 1:50 left in the quarter.
- Finally Smith finds Smith-Njigba for a bigger gain, 19 yards over the middle on a rocket throw to the Bears 43. Illegal formation and a 6-yard McIntosh run make it second-and-9. Edging closer to field goal range at the Bears 42.
- Not sure why but Seattle is going to the air more. They had a couple runs get stuffed and gave up on it. McIntosh comes back on second down with a 3-yard run after an incompletion on first down and Seattle faces third-and-7.
- Seattle to start at its 35 after one of Tory Taylor’s worst punts in recent memory. Bounced it around the 38.
- Facing third-and-9 at their 36 after a 2-yard pass to Allen and Williams is plowed under by Jarran Reed before he can throw for a sack. That’s four sacks for those of you scoring at home. Twenty yards in losses.
- Swift with 4 on first down but can’t move the pile back at all. Williams with a big scramble on second down as Seattle left the left side of the defense uncovered and he took it 16 yards. He should be able to do this more against this defense.
- Bears starting on their own 16 with 8:13 left in the third quarter.
- It took playing his old team for Darrell Taylor to come out of the woodwork. It was his first sack since the opener.
- Jonathan Ford and Jack Sanborn on a tackle force a third-down again and the rush gets home with a strip sack by Darrell Taylor. Seahawks must punt.
- On third-and-5 after a TFL, Smith scrambles for the first down. He slid when it looked like he might get 66 yards rather than 16. Sweat got into the open field after him but stumbled a bit.
- Kyler Gordon hits Charbonnet the way you need to, at the ankles after a 6-yard completion. They need more tackling like that.
- Second half starts at the 22 after a poor kick return by Tyler Scott. He waited too long to cut left. Then Williams is sacked for no yards on first down, run out of bounds. The running game fails again. First Swift with an 8 -yard run is promising up the middle but then Roschon Johnson stacked up on third-and-2 for a 1-yard gain. Bears punt again. Darden calls fiar catch and steps back inside the 20 to make it. They’ll count it at the 20. So not a punt inside the 20 for Taylor.
Second Quarter
- Geno Smith hasn’t looked a lot more at ease than Caleb has, but the difference is he doesn’t have Leonard Williams trying to rip off his head.
- Taking into account the expected terrible blocking at times and holding to wipe out a touchdown, and the lack of a running game, Caleb Williams still played poorly and there was no other way to put it. His feet were moving on throws downfield when he needed to plant and throw. He seemed to panic too quickly and also when he scrambled he ran right into the rush. Definitely not one of his better efforts but typical of the Bears offense as a whole in most first halves.
- The Bears had 27 yards rushing and Williams with 82 yards passing on 7 of 13. Not much going on beyond some screens to DJ Moore. Seattle ran for 91 yards and Smith completed 10 of 15 for 97 yards. The only good thing: Williams has run his interception-free streak to 339.
- The Bears don’t seem to be going anywhere, running it for 6 with Swift. Then Williams makes sure of it by getting sacked after he held the ball forever. Half ends.
- Jake Martin bats it down and Seattle must settle for a Myers field goal of 50 yards. Seahawks 6, Bears 3
- Going back to the run didn’t work and on third-and-5 from the Bears 32 Seattle let about 15 seconds run off the clock at the line of scrimmage before finally using its second timeout. Dumb use of the clock playing against a team that specializes in that.
- The Bears pass rush has closed in on Smith on this drive but not as quickly as they had on the previous possession and he’s had time to pass plus he’s had a bit of room to step up in the pocket. Seahawks have 90 rushing yards and Smith is 10 of 14 for 97 yards.
- Fant with a dump-off catch for the first down and then Metcalf catches one from Smith on the run at the bears 37. Now it’s a different emphasis for the Bears defense.
- Bears could really put Seattle in a hole here with a stop and a scoring drive because they get the ball to start the second half, as well. But a big a 13-yard completion on a screen took advantage of T.J. Edwards blitzing, so it’s third-and-3 for Seattle at its 37.
- A personal foul on DK Metcalf for throwing a punch at DeMarcus Walker then head-butting and the Seahawks not only lose a 9-yard completion but are back at their 24. TWO-MINUTE WARNING!!!
- This is as good as the Bears have looked at complementary football since Brown took over.
- Boye Mafe stops a screen to D’Andre Swift. Bears get a 42-yard Cairo Santos field goal to end a 13-play drive with 2:32 left in the half. Bears 3, Seahawks 3
- On second-and-10 at the 17 Williams throws it away after the rush closed in and Williams was hit by Williams. That’s a big, mobile man. Guard Jake Curhan flagged for holding on a TD pass to Rome Odunze. Little question he held.
- Williams does a Parick Mahomes move after dropping a snap and steps up to hit Keenan Allen for 16. Looked like he would run but last second dumped it ahead on the run to Allen for the first down.
- An 18-yard screen to DJ Moore also perfectly executed and he refused to go down for the last 7 yards of it. First down at the 32 of Seatte.
- Wow really dumb, dangerous move by Swift as he tries to leap over two tacklers near the sidelines. Could have been injured. A sack ensues and Bears face third-and-9 at the 50.
- Nearly a pick but Bears saw Seattle had 12 men on the field. So it’s first-and-5 at the Bears 41 and Swift drives ahead off left tackle behind blocks by Jake Curhan and Larry Borom for 8 and a first down.
- Third-and-7 from the 12 after a Moore catch. Perfectly executed and called screen to Swift beat the blitz and honestly should have gone for more than the 24 they got on it for a first down.
- DJ Moore starts it out by getting flagged for offensive interference. Awful call and it gets what it deserved from the fans on the replay. Then they try a stupid backward pass near their own goal line and lose 2 more. Second down from the 2. Going backward.
- The Bears have 14 yards rushing and 11 passing after a quarter. They must be worn out from all of that work.
- Bears pass defense in favorable position at third-and-10 after a Byron Cowart sack from behind and T.J. Edwards with a QB hit forcing an incompletion. The Bears will get it back as Seattle lines up to punt from the 41 of the Bears. Excellent pass rush on the late part of the drive. Sweat almost got there when Cowart got the sack and Edwards blitzed. Bears at their own 9 after the punt.
- Two powerful Charbonnet runs and the Seahawks are at their 44. Breaking more tackles or pushing people back on his own David Montgomery style. Finally they go upfield and it’s Lockett again. He caught one under Jaylon Johnson for a 15-yard gain. Starting to open it up.
- DeMarcus Walker with a stop after 1 yard by Charbonnet and it’s third-and-4 at the 22. They got Smith-Njigba isolated on Tremaine Edmunds and it was no contest. First down at the 30.
- Seattle starts the second quarter with second-and-5 at its own 21.
First Quarter
- Jaylon Johnson stands his ground and tackles 235-pound DK Metcalf on the wide receiver screen. Brave man. That was like tackling a tight end one-on-one in the open field. Quarter ends with best play of the game for the Bears defense. No one jumped offsides as Seattle tried the long count to draw them off. That’s real progress.
- Another three-and-out as Williams misses Odunze breaking open downfield. He didn’t set his feet and just threw on the run. So Seahawks start at the 16, the third inside the 20 by Taylor in the game. He’s going to get my offensive MVP vote for this team.
- Swift loses 7 on a first-down run around end. This team can’t run the ball. It’s been their biggest problem on offense. They didn’t take into account how much their running game was the result of Justin Fields’ running last year. Maybe not his runs but the fear of him running opened it up for everyone else. When he was gone, the defense showed how poor the offensive line really is at blocking the run.
- Again Smith could have rushed for a yard he needed for 2 yards he needed to get the first down but he flipped it to Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who wasn’t open and Kyler Gordon broke it up. So the Bears start at their own 31 after an outstanding 56-yard punt from Michael Dickson with no return. There’s a timeout … on the field with 2:12 left in the quarter.
- More missed tackles on McIntosh this time for a 6-yard run. No one hitting him low enough. Seattle already at 61 yards rushing.
- Jaelon Dardon completely obliterated by Tyler Scott on the retun after fielding it foolishly at the 5. Another Tory Taylor punt inside the 20. Didn’t know Scott could hit so hard. First down at the 5. As Flus would say, a punt-and-pin.
- Another punt coming as Swift dropped the third-down pass at the sideline but he didn’t have the first down as Williams had to rush the throw.
- Not giving up on the run yet and Swift gets 5 on first down up the middle behind good blocking. The Seahawks forced an incompletion on second down, though and Bears reach third-and-5.
- Boot pass on the run to DJ Moore coming across the formation works for 9. That same play has worked numerous times this year. Then the first down on a dump-down to D’Andre Swift at the 40. A 2-yard pass didn’t seem worth it considering the big hit he took.
- Geno Smith with plenty of time to throw and the Bears still get the three-and-out with an incompletion. He might have been able to run for it on third-and-7.
- A cheap sack for Tez on first down back at the 9 as Geno Smith fell first. He’ll take it. He’s had three or four others this year that could have been easily made but the QB escaped somehow.
- The 48-yard punt is OB at the 17 as Izzy Idonije gets introduced for the sideline interview on the big board. A very solid performer for Lovie Smith’s and Rod Marinelli’s rush men.
- Leonard Williams makes his presence felt early on, as he get the QB hit on Caleb Williams throwing on third-and-5 to Odunze, causing an incompletion.
- Bears from the 30. After Swift gets 2 the Bears actually get Roschon Johnson into the game but he can only get 3 before they close it down in the middle. Rarely does Johnson get in so soon.
- A 6:01 drive in 11 plays for 71 yards. They went for the small stuff under the coverage all drive. The Bears were playing for the takeaway. It was there and Edmunds couldn’t hold it.
- Seattle looking at third-and-3 after a 5-yard Charbonnet run up the middle on a delayed handoff. Tremaine Edmunds drops an interception after good interior pass rush from Gervon Dexter so the Bears red zone defense comes tothe rescue. Jason Myers boots a 27-yarder. And for the 15th time in 16 games, the Bears trail first. A sure sign of a poor team. Seattle 3, Bears 0
- Seahawks get into Bears territory on a pass to Noah Fant and then a 25-yard run by Kenny McIntosh gets them in the red zone at the 16. Bad run defense of the Bears at work again.
- Another bad tackle attempt, this by Jonathan Owens and Charbonnet gets another first down. Tackling sloppy looking.
- 3-yard gain on a wide receiver screen but to tyler Lockett is a surprise on first down considering how they’ve gone away from him so much this year. Zach Charbonnet takes it two straight times for the first down. Bad tackling by the Bears.
- Seattle at the 20 after the touchback bounced in the landing area and went out of the end zone. As a big cloud of smoke hangs over the field from pregame garbage.
- Bears will kick off.
Pregame
Late-arriving crowd and it has filled in nicely considering the date and worthless nature of this Bears team. Don’t you people have homes!? Even the press box seating area looks a bit sparce tonight. Simone Biles here on sidelines to support Jonathan Owens and it seems they finally got here a jacket or sweater like the old Packers one she had that she wore to the opener, something with her husband’s image on it. For the final home game.
Darrynton Evans active for backfield purposes tonight. The Bears also had Rome Odunze taking a good percentage of the punt returns in warmups. Not sure if they’re actually entertaining that thought in a game but my recommendation in that regard is two words long: Tarik Cohen. Poor guy made a fair catch and ended his career with a knee injury so they could let the ball hit the ground if Josh Blackwell can’t return it and they have no one else. Odunze is too valuable to risk returning punts.
Next time Caleb Williams sees CJ Stroud pic.twitter.com/mxbJL4WY0p
— Hater Report (@HaterReport_) December 26, 2024
We’ll have to find out after the game what the issue with Zacch Pickens is. It’s possible he was ill at the last second or about anything happened. Still, when that happens there is usually some sort of announcement about it from the team. If it turns out they just put him on the bench and went with three defensive tackles, it’s not saying much for the drafting of Ryan Poles. Bears fans on Twitter aren’t waiting to find out what happened…