The Seattle Seahawks walked out of Monday night with more than a 34-17 loss to the Chicago Bears. They left with a full-blown offensive problem staring them in the face.
At the midseason point, Seattle’s attack has hit crisis mode. The defense surrendered a season-high 34 points, its most since the 2024 season, but the bigger story was how long Chicago kept the ball and how little the Seahawks’ offense did to answer.
The Bears controlled possession for 35 minutes, while Seattle managed only two drives that reached double-digit plays. One of those came on the final possession, when the Seahawks were already down 17 and needed urgency, not patience.
“We didn’t do the things on offense that we need to be able to do to play Seahawk football,” Macdonald said. “To me, it’s inputs.
If we’re playing the way that we’re supposed to, and we’re running off the rock, and we’re targeted right, and we’re dialed in on what we should be doing, we’re way more efficient and then the ball is distributed more evenly. So, that’s where we need to put our focus.”
The problems were spread across the operation. Brian Fleury looked overmatched as offensive coordinator, Sam Darnold had one of his roughest nights of the season, and the line took another hit with Charles Cross out and Grey Zabel sliding to right guard after the Quenton Nelson trade. Seattle has dealt with plenty of offensive issues already this year, but this was a collapse in primetime that dropped the Seahawks 3.5 games behind the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC West race.
The game was still hanging around after a three-play touchdown drive that came off a defensive takeaway and cut the deficit to three. Chicago answered to push the lead back to 10, and Seattle had nine minutes in the fourth quarter to chase it down.
That’s where the offense fell apart again. After a penalty gave the Seahawks a free first down, they had 1st and 10 at their own 22-yard line with 7:13 left.
Fleury called two straight runs that produced three yards, then Darnold threw an interception on third down. Four plays later, the Bears had stretched it to 17, and the Seahawks were done.
“If we’re not efficient on early downs, or we’re not moving the ball forward all the time, it’s tough sledding,” Macdonald said postgame about the offense. “And when you play a team like that that is really proficient on third down, then that’s the type of stuff that happens. But the sense of urgency for us to improve right now is high.”
This wasn’t just a bad night in isolation. The way Seattle’s offense has handled game flow has been a season-long issue, and eight games in, the staff still hasn’t found the right answers. That responsibility lands on the coaches, with the coordinator carrying the biggest load.
Darnold and the skill players have to clean up the turnovers. The offensive line has to bring more force in the run game. And Fleury has to lean harder into what has actually worked, including what showed up in the Chiefs game.
“As the season goes on, there’s always room to grow and continue to learn each other,” Darnold said of Fleury after the game. “I feel like the last couple of weeks we’ve been continuing to develop that relationship, and I feel like it’s been going good. Again, for whatever reason, today, we’ve got to watch the tape, but it just wasn’t getting enough, and we’ll continue to dive deep into it and be very honest with each other really throughout the next day.”
That message sounded a lot like the one after the Week 6 loss to the Broncos, when Seattle fell into a 1-3 stretch. A strong win over the Chiefs had offered some hope, but Monday night sent the Seahawks right back into the same search for answers.
With the bye not coming until Week 11, the margin for error is shrinking fast. The offense has to turn this around immediately, or it could wreck Seattle’s shot at a second straight Super Bowl run.
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