Seahawks look scarily inept even by preseason standards in 27-11 loss to Bears

That was bad. Very bad.

Final scores usually don’t matter in preseason but the Seattle Seahawks (0-2) looked wholly inept for a good chunk of Thursday’s home game against the Chicago Bears (2-0). Final score? 27-11 Chicago and it wasn’t that close. The Bears had a 17-0 halftime lead built heavily on the back of poor tackling, sloppy penalties, dropped passes, special teams blunders, and all-around disorganized play from a group that even with the guys they rested, still featured a healthy number of starters and rotational players.

Geno Smith was 10/18 for 112 yards, seemingly injuring his right knee at some point in the 2nd quarter. He was not out for the 2nd half and while he was hardly anything, he wasn’t helped by the penalties and the drops. Jacob Eason came in and... he tried. At least he led a touchdown drive in garbage time and probably should’ve had two if not for more dropping.

Marquise Blair almost made an immediate impact on special teams when he forced a fumble on the opening kickoff on rookie Velus Jones Jr. Chicago recovered the ball, and thanks in part to a 4th down neutral zone infraction penalty by Darrell Taylor, they were able to get into the red zone. A great tackle by Josh Jones on Khalil Herbert resulted in a Cairo Santos field goal. This was Justin Fields’s only series.

The Seahawks had consecutive three-and-outs with Geno Smith at quarterback. A massive punt return by Velus Jones Jr gave Trevor Siemian and Chicago a short field, which they capitalized on with a 2-yard touchdown to rookie fullback Jake Tonges. Needless to say, the poor tackling continued from last week.

Travis Homer ripped off a 33-yard run to finally give the Seahawks some life offensively, but tragedy struck on the next play when Angelo Blackson rolled up on his own teammate Caleb Johnson and Seahawks left guard Damien Lewis, who was carted off with a serious ankle injury. It’s highly likely that Lewis’ season is over. Geno Smith converted a 4th and 2 in Chicago territory but Gabe Jackson committed a hands to the face penalty that ended the drive. The next possession saw Geno hit Penny Hart in stride for a 41-yard gain. Dareke Young dropped a Geno dime on the following play, Charles Cross committed a hold, and the drive stalled. Jason Myers hooked his 47-yard field goal wide right.

The slew of sloppy penalties, dropped passes, and ugly football killed offensive drives, handed the Bears first downs, and fittingly the opening half ended with Cade Johnson muffing a punt deep in his own territory, which Chicago pounced on for a touchdown. A chorus of boos from a hardly filled Lumen Field rained down.

I don’t really need to write up the 2nd half. The Bears got a touchdown immediately on their first offensive possession, Jacob Eason showed why he doesn’t get on the field, and the fans entertained themselves by doing the wave. Darwin Thompson had a cool leap on one play and he scored Seattle’s only TD.

Charles Cross had a tough night with five penalties, including four false starts. Overall the Seahawks committed 13 accepted penalties and had a few more declined. It was an ugly night that the little comeback effort at the end won’t erase.

The Seahawks mercifully wrap up the preseason on Friday, August 26th at 8 PM ET at the Dallas Cowboys. KING-5 will have local coverage.