3 reactions from Seattle Seahawks loss to Bears Week 16

The Seattle Seahawks lost to the Chicago Bears in Week 16 25-24. This was a game Seattle should have won but didn’t. Now changes need to be made.

Seattle has lost games in 2021 before Sunday, of course. In fact, the Seahawks now have 10 losses. This is their most since 2009, a year before Pete Carroll became the head coach in Seattle. They will probably finish with 12. There is no reason to think Seattle won’t go 5-12 this season at this point.

Seattle, though, led 24-14 heading into the fourth quarter. They had a chance to make it 27-17 in the fourth quarter. But then Russell Wilson happened. And Ken Norton, Jr. happened. And Seattle continued to miss tackles.

Three quick reactions from Seattle Seahawks Week 16 loss

Rashaad Penny might be worth re-signing

The 2021 season for Seattle has been so weird that if you just woke up after Week 4 and you are seeing Rashaad Penny look like he is a really good NFL back, your eyes are not deceiving you. For the second week out of the last three, Penny ran for well over 100 yards and looks fast and strong.

The question is what to do with Penny now. Seattle rightfully did not pick up Penny’s fifth-year option in the offseason because Penny is always hurt. But when he did play in his first three years he looked promising. He missed most of the first part of this year too (as usual) but now looks great.

Seattle might not get Chris Carson back next year. Who knows how he will recover from his neck injury? But Penny might leave too. Seattle doesn’t have a clear answer as to who will be their main back next season. It might need to be Penny. Now he only needs to stay healthy.

Ken Norton, Jr. needs to be fired

I don’t know for sure whose decision it was to basically go into a prevent defense so early in the second half but Seattle appeared to do so. Either that or Norton, Jr. simply stopped being aggressive and thought his defensive line was good enough to put pressure on Bears quarterback Nick Foles on their own.

Seattle hasn’t been good enough to do that all year. Yes, Seattle did get four sacks, 2 each by Carlos Dunlap and Rasheem Green. But Seattle still gave up so many receptions over the middle that the Bears were able to dominate time of possession and eventually outlast Seattle.

Norton, Jr. doesn’t know how to call a defensive game consistently. He never has. Norton, Jr. also doesn’t know how to get the best out of the talent he has. Jamal Adams isn’t playing anymore but would it have mattered in this game if he had?

Seattle was once again terrible on third down. Chicago converted 7 of 14 third down attempts. Many of these were third and 8 or more. Some of the blame goes on the players and Seattle was without D.J. Reed as well. But the coach schemes these key downs and Seattle simply isn’t aggressive enough.

Relying on a defense to constantly make stops in the red zone to win games is not a way to succeed. Seattle is 4th in the NFL in points-allowed but they are easily last in time of possession. Seattle’s defense lets opposing teams to keep drives alive so much the Seahawks weak offense has more pressure put upon it. Ken Norton, Jr. needs to go. (So does offensive coordinator Shane Waldron.)

Russell Wilson can’t be traded because he has less value now

Last offseason there were a lot of rumors that Russell Wilson wanted out of Seattle and maybe he would eventually be traded. He wasn’t. Maybe he should have been. I don’t say this because Wilson isn’t capable of being good, he is.

But last offseason the Seahawks probably could have gotten a decent return for Wilson. But based on his play this season, there is no way a sane team would give up more than a first round choice for him now. This isn’t a matter of Wilson coming back from injury now. He was good in weeks 13 and 14 after being terrible in the weeks before that after coming back from his finger injury.

But the last two weeks Wilson has not been good. Throw out the raw statistics against the Bears when Wilson had a quarterback rating of 104.1. Wilson was just 16 of 27 for 181 yards and while he did throw for 2 touchdowns he also overthrew or underthrew several receivers.

On one opening drive of the third quarter when the Seahawks might have taken a commanding lead, Wilson widely overthrew DK Metcalf on a short pass that would have gone for a first. Seattle punted on the drive.

Then in the fourth quarter, Wilson took a terrible sack that made a chippy field goal attempt much more difficult, especially in windy conditions on Sunday, and Jason Myers missed a 39-yard field goal. Whatever is going on with Wilson, it isn’t getting fixed and no other team is going to want him that much at this point.