Seahawks week 16 MVP of the game: the resurgent Rashaad Penny

The Seattle Seahawks turned in what has to be their most disappointing performance of a disappointing season versus the Bears. Game MVP Rashaad Penny provided some of the very few bright spots of the contest.

Trust me, 12s, it isn’t easy to watch a game like this and come up with the most valuable player. It goes to the old argument regarding how valuable anyone can be in a loss. The best reference for me is the 1987 National League MVP, Andre Dawson. He led the league in home runs, RBI, total bases, and played Gold Glove defense in right field. He also led the Chicago Cubs to a sixth-place finish. So exactly how valuable is a great performance, when your team loses anyway?

I’ll leave the Dawson argument to others. Let’s get back to football. The Seahawks needed great performances to beat the Bears this past Sunday. Sadly, they didn’t get very many. Actually, just average play from most players would have beaten Chicago, but we didn’t even get that. Yes, we did get great play from both Carlos Dunlap and my overachiever of the game, Rasheem Green. But for me, Sunday’s MVP was the man who’s truly stepped up his game of late, Rashaad Penny.

Rashaad Penny nearly carried the Seahawks to the win

I can think of a lot of words to describe the 2021 season for the Seahawks. Unfortunately, FanSided won’t allow me to use most of them here. One word that is allowable – and fits – is surprising. True, for the most part, the surprises have been terrible. It’s surprising that Russell Wilson is playing the worst football of his career. It’s also a surprise that Jason Myers has missed six kicks after making every field goal last year. It’s a huge surprise that the Hawks have only beaten one team with a winning record other than the Niners.

However, nothing has been a bigger surprise than the resurgence of Rashaad Penny. Seattle’s number one pick of 2018 came into the season with, to say the least, a lot to prove. He played in just three games in 2020. Through the first half of this season, it looked like we’d see an instant replay of that dismal year. To that point, Penny had 15 carries for 24 yards.

We saw a glimmer of hope in the first game versus the Cardinals when he broke off an 18-yard run on the first play from scrimmage. Unfortunately, he came up limping and only had one more carry. Sadly, we’d seen this so often before, it could have been scripted. Stage direction: here’s where Penny gets hurt and misses the next month.

Except he missed one week, not a month. He showed some speed and power against the 49ers, including a beautiful 27-yard catch and run. The show was only beginning, as Penny broke out against the Texans with his first 100-yard game in over two years. He basically repeated that performance this week, piling up 135 yards against the Bears. As off-target as Russell Wilson was for much of the game, this would have been a two-touchdown loss without the slashing runs from Penny. Even in a loss, some players stand out. No one was more valuable in this game than Rashaad Penny.