Countdown to training camp: Seahawks drop second straight on road to open season

It’s Monday, and we are two weeks into the countdown to training camp series, meaning that for a seventeen game season we are in the final stretches and camp actually starts this week. With the rookies for the Seattle Seahawks having reported last week, all that is left is for the vets to arrive Wednesday so that camp can start Thursday. In the meantime, we’ve got two more games to go in the process of working backwards through each 2018 contest. So far we have already covered:

• Wild Card round of the playoffs loss to the Dallas Cowboys,
• Week 17 win over the Arizona Cardinals,
• Week 16 upset of the Kansas City Chiefs,
• Week 15 loss to the San Francisco 49ers
• Week 14 win over the Minnesota Vikings,
• Week 13 win over the 49ers,
• Week 12 victory over the Carolina Panthers,
• Week 11 defeat of the Green Bay Packers,
• Week 10 loss to the Los Angeles Rams,
• Week 9 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers,
• Week 8 win over the Detroit Lions,
• Week 6 victory over the Oakland Raiders,
• Week 5 loss to the Rams,
• Week 4 win over the Cardinals and
• Week 3 win over the Cowboys.

That brings things to the hot and humid Monday night in Chicago last September, a night which did not turn out as many Hawks fans had hoped. Following a Week 1 loss to the Denver Broncos which many fans wrote off due to humidity, the expectations were much higher for Week 2. However, the Chicago Bears and their new edge rushers, Khalil Mack, had other plans. Wilson was harassed, hit and chased all night in a preview of what was to come throughout the 2018 season.

Specifically, Wilson was sacked six times for the second consecutive week, and the tone was set for the strategy and tactics of the Seattle offense to be completely revamped going forward. Over the final 15 games of the 2018 season, which includes the game in the Wild Card round, the Seahawks attempted more passes than in either Week 1 or Week 2 only once all season. That lone game in which Wilson’s attempts eclipsed the number attempted in the opening two games of the season was the Week 9 loss to the Chargers, a game which saw Wilson attempt twenty passes during the fourth quarter in a frantic attempt to lead Seattle back to victory.

Thus, for those who enjoyed the style of offense the Hawks ran with during the 2018 season, the ugliness of the games against the Bears and Broncos is there to be thanked.