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Seattle Seahawks Dominate First Half but Fumble Away Lead and Cannot Recover

Seneca Wallace rolled out and targeted John Carlson, but John Owens stepped in and received the pass for a first down. With 46 seconds remaining, Seattle was first and ten from the Chicago 37--needing a score. Four plays later, Wallace would throw incomplete to Julius Jones and the Seahawks would turn over the ball on downs, effectively ending the game.

It was a game that started strong for Seattle. Seattle went up 7-0 when Jones took a screen up the right sideline and broke a tackle in the open field to receive for 39 yards and the touchdown. That screen pass made up for a bad hand off and bad decision by Wallace. He pitched it the wrong direction, recovered and then ran the ball out of bounds when a legal throw-away would have saved Seattle from a 14 yard loss.

With the early lead, the Seahawks young defense got after it. Middle pressure by Brandon Mebane and edge pressure by Darryl Tapp forced Jay Cutler into a bad-idea lob that David Hawthorne caught for an interception. Hawhthorne's interception led to an 11 play scoring drive that put Seattle ahead 10-0. Olindo Mare converted from 46.

Field position helped Seattle go ahead 13-0 before an overturned fumble turned momentum in Chicago's favor. Hawthorne forced a fumble that was overruled after a Chicago challenge. Two plays later, the Bears would score. Strong safety Deon Grant got a hit on Cutler, but Cutler had enough to lob a pass for Greg Olsen for the touchdown.

Seattle's offense sputtered. Olindo Mare missed his next field goal attempt, and a good return by Ben Obomanu was wasted.

The Seahawks started the second half with a brief drive that ended suddenly with a sloppy fumble by T.J. Houshmandzadeh.

The Bears took that field position and drove a short length. Johnny Knox ran a crossing route, caught Cutler's pass and put a move on Aaron Curry to get a step towards the end zone. There he squeezed past Kelly Jennings and wrapped the ball around the pylon to put Chicago ahead. Jim Mora challenged it, but the calling on the field stood.

Seattle built its next drive from 30 yards of facemask penalties, but Mare again hooked the field goal left and left points on the field.

The Seahawks forced a quick three and out, but a misjudged punt by Justin Forsett was declared a "fair catch" only for the ball to soar over Forsett and be downed at the Seattle six. On the first play of the drive, Chicago flushed Wallace from the pocket and he scrambled into his end zone before throwing an interception to Lance Briggs.

The Bears took that field position and scored a field goal, putting themselves up 17-13.

Midway through the fourth and with the Bears up 17-16, Curry put the defense on his shoulders and turned the odds in Seattle's favor. Curry shot into the backfield and tackled Matt Forte for a loss of two and then on the subsequent down, Gus Bradley worked a blitz to get Curry outside and around left end. He forced an uncalled hold, and stripped Cutler from behind. Seattle recovered.

After a short drive, Mare hit one from 46 to give Seattle its final lead of the day.

The following possession ended with Devin Hester maneuvering between a colliding Grant and nickel corner Travis Fisher to score a 36 yard touchdown. That pass proved decisive, as Seattle fell 25-19.