The Seahawks’ Monday night loss to the Bears came with a pile of numbers that tell a pretty clear story: Seattle’s offense had trouble protecting the quarterback, the defense struggled to get off the field, and Chicago changed up its looks just enough to keep the Seahawks from settling in.
On the Bears’ side, the pass rush came with a different flavor than what Seattle had seen earlier in the season. Chicago used a four-man rush on 80% of its snaps against the Seahawks, up from 60% in Weeks 1-7. The Bears backed off the five-man rush from 24% to 15%, and the six-man rush dropped all the way from 16% to 3%.
The coverage picture shifted too. Chicago’s man-versus-zone split stayed about the same, but the shell looks changed noticeably.
The Bears were in two-high on 67% of snaps against Seattle, compared with 45% in Weeks 1-7. One-high dropped from 54% to 33%, and safety rotation went from 31% to 18%.
Seattle did get production from Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who accounted for 63% of the passing yards. That was his third game with 60% or more of the passing yards, his fifth with at least 50%, and his seventh with at least 40%.
The protection numbers were rough. Seattle allowed pressure on 39% of dropbacks, marking its seventh game at 39% or higher.
The only game below 40% came last week, when the Seahawks were at 33%. The offense also gave up three sacks, the fourth time this season Seattle has allowed at least three.
The Seahawks still haven’t had back-to-back games with zero sacks allowed.
Individually, the pressure and sack totals on the offensive line broke down like this: Josh Jones had three pressures and no sacks, Quenton Nelson had three pressures and no sacks, Jalen Sundell had no pressures and no sacks, Grey Zabel had two pressures and one sack, and Abraham Lucas had two pressures and one sack.
Defensively, Seattle had trouble keeping Chicago out of the end zone once the Bears got inside the 20. The Seahawks allowed touchdowns on four of five red-zone trips. Chicago had been scoring touchdowns on 52% of red-zone possessions in Weeks 1-7.
The overall success rate against Seattle was tied for the highest the Seahawks have allowed this season at 49%, matching the 49ers game. Those are the only two games Seattle has allowed a success rate above 42%.
Tackling was another issue. Seattle’s missed tackle rate came in at 11%, with the season rank listed at 13th at 12%. On third down, the Bears faced 15 third downs of three yards or less, and Seattle also dealt with one fourth-and-3 or less.
In the passing game, Chicago found more room than most opponents have against Seattle. The Seahawks posted their slowest time to pressure of the season at 2.75 seconds.
From Weeks 1-7, that number was 2.52, which ranked 13th. The season rank is 16th at 2.55.
The Bears also had their best passing success against Seattle, finishing at 53%. That was only the second game all season in which Seattle allowed more than 46% passing success. The season rank there is fourth at 40%.
Chicago averaged 7.3 yards per attempt, the highest mark Seattle has allowed this year. From Weeks 1-7, that number had been 5.2. The season rank is first at 5.5.
Short passes were a problem too. Chicago posted a 55% success rate on throws under 10 yards, the second-highest short passing success Seattle has allowed.
It was the third game in which Seattle allowed more than 44% in that area. The season rank is 16th at 46%.
The Bears were even more efficient in the intermediate range. On throws between 11 and 20 yards, Chicago had a 63% success rate and 11.3 yards per attempt, both season highs against Seattle. The Bears also attempted eight intermediate throws, the second-most Seattle has faced.
Chicago took six shots deep, the most deep attempts against the Seahawks this season, and completed two of them. It was only the second game in which Seattle saw four or more deep attempts.
The rush defense numbers weren’t included in the dump, but the rest of the stat sheet paints the picture well enough: Seattle had too many long stretches where it couldn’t get pressure, couldn’t get stops, and couldn’t keep Chicago from turning drives into points.
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