Notes from the Nest: Seahawks can’t overcome cold (streak) in Week 16

The Seahawks lost to the Cheifs on Sunday and are now 7-8. If the season were to end today, Seattle would miss the playoffs. This is even after beginning the season 6-3.

At my day job, we have an NFL survivor pool. It is pretty simple, pick one team to win each week, and pray they survive. This season saw nearly 400 participants, so let’s just say the pot is quite large.

As we head into Christmas and the home stretch of the NFL season, there are only four survivors left (I’m not one of them…stupid Buccaneers). Of the four picks this week, two of them chose the Chiefs to beat the Seahawks. That’s the confidence people have right now that the Seahawks were going to lose, and sure enough, they survived. In a second straight game facing off against the best the league has to offer, the Seahawks showed how far they have to go to be great.

Notes from the Nest: Seahawks lose in Week 16

The defense fought hard…

When you are playing the expected MVP Patrick Mahomes and the greatness of Travis Kelce and Andy Reid, you had to think the Seahawks’ defense was in for a brutal day. A little over five minutes in, they were down 7-0 after giving up one of the easier touchdown drives of the year. Early in the second quarter, the Seahawks yet again were steamrolled for an easy touchdown and found themselves down 14-0.

From the 8:56 mark of the second quarter to the 4:42 mark of the fourth quarter, the Seahawks held the vaunted Chiefs offense to only 3 points. In the second half, the Seattle defense forced three straight punts, and six punts total, the most Kansas City has been forced this season. Why was Seattle able to stymie the Chiefs?

The most likely conclusion is the weather. It was absolutely frigid in Kansas City, and you could tell it affected the passing game of both quarterbacks, taking away the chance for the QB duel we were hoping to see. We also saw the run defense, knowing KC wanted to run more than normal, stand up, and hold the Chiefs to only 77 yards on 22 rushes. While they were only able to sack Mahomes once and get three pressures, they did deflect 5 passes and made some huge plays on 3rd down to keep their team in the game for the first 50 minutes.