The Unbearable Brightness of Beating Chicago

At long last, Seattle broke an agonizing eight-month, three-game winning drought that started with Super Bowl XLIX and continued in St. Louis and Green Bay.

Initially, our offense looked a lot the same. Offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell continues to struggle to call plays in the first half. Our O-Line got handled, and Russell Wilson hung in the pocket too long and took too many sacks. Jimmy Graham still can't block.

Despite limited offensive production, Seattle crept ahead with a first-quarter field goal owing to fantastic field position from Richard Sherman's remarkable 64-yard punt return--a trick play borrowed from the Rams, who used it to score against us in St. Louis last season.



To increase the level of difficulty, Marshawn Lynch--slowed by a complex of calf and lower back woes--started late. Even when injured, Lynch has the meanest stiffarm in the game, as Bear Alan Ball learned when the Beast shoved him down by the facemask when the defensive back tried to tackle Lynch near the sideline. Unfortunately, the Beast twinged his hamstring at some point and had to be held out the rest of the game.



In the waning minutes of the second quarter, the Seahawks finally got a drive going, with DangeRuss shooting a series of passes to Jermaine Kearse and Golden Graham. Sadly, the 74-yard drive stalled short of the end zone and Seattle had to settle for a Steven Hauschka field goal.

Beautiful blocking helped Tyler Lockett break open the game with a 105-yard kickoff return after halftime and take a 13-0 lead. Without stellar special teams play to that point, Seattle's lead would have been a mere 3-0 at that point. (And if the officials had made the proper call on the kick that hit Brock Coyle's cankle, then the tally would have been 3-3, probably.)



In the second half, Bevell found his groove, calling an inspired mix of runs and passes. Wilson resumed his escape artist routine, kept the defense off balance with a few runs, and zinged passes to Doug Baldwin, Kearse and Graham, including a cathartic 30-yard catch-and-run by the Ginger Giant, who triumphantly broke through two Bears defenders to enter the end zone.

In turn, the aerial attack helped set up the run. The O-Line got its run blocking together, enabling some beastworthy runs by rookie Thomas Rawls, who piled up 104 yards on 16 runs for an impressive 6.5 yard average.

If Bevell could call plays in the first half as well as he does in the second, Seattle would be racking up yards and points commensurate with the preposterous talents of DangeRuss, Golden Graham and the Beast.



Conversely, Chicago started with the right offensive strategy: running the ball out of heavy sets with three tight ends, punctuating heavy doses of Matt Forte with a few dashes of straight-ahead running from Jacquizz Rodgers (whose unfortunate first name is a homonym for two slang verbs with unseemly connotations... we interrupt our regular programming for a special Diehard plea to the parents of the world: please think carefully before you get creative naming your child).

Early on, our defense looked confused, and the Bears gouged us on the ground and moved the ball well. Defensive coordinator Kris Richard got Kam Chancellor's attention by benching him in favor of DeShawn Shead for a few plays.

Then Bam-Bam came back with renewed focus, and the defense rallied.



We forced Chicago to punt. Every time they had the ball. All game. Ten times in a row. Shutout.

In a refreshing departure from last week's all-vanilla defense, Coach Carroll and Kris Richard got creative on D.

For much of the game, they wisely assigned Richard Sherman to cover Martellus Bennett, the Bears' sole real receiving threat.

As Seattle built a lead and the clock ran down, it forced Chicago to depart from their game plan and throw more. Richard responded by calling some blitzes, to devastating effect as Michael Bennett and Cliff Avril pummeled Jimmie Clausen.



Our starters shone. The starting linebackers--K.J. Wright, Bobby Wagner and Bruce Irvin--dominated. Ahtyba Rubin clogged the middle. Sherman, Chancellor and Earl Thomas III erased receivers.

With the line of scrimmage under control and the Bears wideouts smothered, there were few tackles left for the secondary to make, except for perpetual target Cary Williams.

Our depth showed up. When injury downed defensive tackle Brandon Mebane, Jordan Hill and Demarcus Dobbs stepped up as run-stuffers. Rookie Frank Clark--no longer a missing person--recorded two solo tackles,

That was Seahawks football.

Good work, men.