Some Bright Spots But Plenty Of Miscues In Preseason Loss To Bears

The Seahawks fell to 0-2 in preseason play, losing 27-11 to the Bears on Thursday night in a game marred by miscues in all three phases of the game. The loss included including 13 penalties, many of them drive-killers on offense, missed tackles on defense and several big plays for Chicago on special teams. Seattle’s reserves showed some fight late in the game, including an impressive goal-line stand and a fourth-quarter touchdown drive led by Jacob Eason in his first game action with the Seahawks, but overall Thursday night’s game was one the Seahawks will try to learn from, then leave in the rearview mirror.

Here are six rapid reactions to Thursday night’s loss:

In the first half alone, the Seahawks had gains of 41 yards, 33 yards and 29 yards, the type of explosive plays that lead to scores far more often than not. Yet when the first half ended, the Seahawks found themselves in a 17-0 hole.

It takes some unusual circumstances for a team to not score with bit plays like that, particularly without turning the ball over, and for the Seahawks it was a combination of penalties, dropped passes, as well as a missed field goal.

Seattle’s first drive ended quickly when Freddie Swain couldn’t come down with a very nice third-down throw from Geno Smith, and from that point on there several miscues, including a plethora of penalties that killed drives, including an illegal-hands-to-the-face call that wiped out a nice fourth-down conversion on a Smith-to-Cade Johnson pass, as well as a drive-killing “sack” that occurred when Smith clipped Travis Homer’s foot, causing him to trip for a big loss.

It’s worth remember that, this being a preseason game and all, the Seahawks weren’t at full strength. Neither Rashaad Penny nor Kenneth Walker III played in the game, and DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett each only made a brief one-possession cameo, so the Seahawks were missing a lot of offensive fire power. Even so, there is plenty to clean up,…