Seahawks Drop Bears In OT – 23-17

Seahawks Win!!! And an amazing OT win at that! The win opens up the road to the playoffs last looked to be at least partial closed a week ago.

Before I get into my game notes, I want to say that the NFL should be absolutely embarrassed by the performance of Mike Carey’s officiating crew in this game. These guys made the replacement officials look good by comparison. The number of horrible calls, and the amazing one-sided nature of them was simply crazy. There’s no excuse for that. These guys are supposed to be professionals, but they aren’t. I would absolutely not be surprised one bit to find out that Carey had money on the Bears in this game.  The NFL needs to fix this!

With that in mind, I’m very proud of the Seahawks. The zebras tried very hard to give the game to the Bears, but they showed their metal and gutted out a victory anyways. And did so on the road. This Seahawk team can beat anyone in a fairly officiated game.

Game Notes

Offense

• If you want to know how to win a road game, look what the Seahawks did on their last 2 offensive possessions. 97 yards for a TD. 80 yards for a TD. Do that, and you can win anywhere.
• Russell Wilson had a good game again. 23-37, 293 yards, 2 TD and zero ints.
• He also went completely cold in the 3rd quarter. At one point he was 2-9 with some bad misses. That was also when the Seahawks had completely abandoned the run. The running game is Wilson’s friend. It makes him better. Seahawks need to remember that and not abandon it.
• Lynch finished the day with 19 carries for 87 yards and a TD. I’d really like to see him get about 24 carries a game still even with Wilson’s emergence. Just too good not to get and keep involved.
• Pretty clear that the Bears didn’t prepare for the read-option play. Seahawks ran it all day with great results.
• Wilson and Zach Miller have no chemistry right now. When Miller is open the pass either never comes or is off target. Luckily, it wont be too tough to get that fixed, and it’ll add a nice boost to the quality of the offense when they do so.
• Glad to see the Seahawks finally use a possession at the end of the first half to try and get points. But having Leon Washington in there in that situation is an annoyingly poor choice. Handcuffs the offense for no reason.

Defense

• Brandon Marshal is pretty good. Perhaps the game plan should have called for actually covering him occasionally.
• It really looked like Sherman and Browner had been distracted all week with preparing for their suspension appeal. Neither had their usual good game. Lots of mistakes.
• Earl Thomas had probably his worst game as a pro today. Lots of missed tackles, and he was the one in coverage of Marshal on the big play at the end of regulation that forced OT. Sherman almost bailed him out there, but couldn’t.
• The run defense was very good in this game. There was a couple big runs by Forte in the 2nd half, but he finished with just 66 yards on 21 carries.
• Walter Thurmond quietly had a good debut. He played in the nickel on the inside receiver.
• LeRoy Hill wasn’t missed. Malcom Smith and Mike Morgan filled in very nicely. They were also the reason that Forte wasn’t a big part of the passing game. Hill might be a good run stopper, but his backups are better at coverage.

General Notes

• 8 more penalties for the Seahawks. Clearly the team’s achilles heal. Can’t get out of their own way. Coaches are clearly unwilling or unable to fix this glaring problem.
• Only injury I’m aware of is Sydney Rice. Looked like he got a concussion on the game’s final play. He said on twitter post game that he passed the concussion tests and will not be restricted next week. Lucky break for Seahawks.

Dec 2, 2012; Chicago, IL, USA; Chicago Bears defensive tackle Nate Collins (left) and defensive end Israel Idonije (right) pressure Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson (3) during the second half at Soldier Field. The Seahawks won 23-17 in OT. Mandatory Credit: Dennis Wierzbicki-US PRESSWIRE