NFL Week 17 analysis: Winners and Losers from Seahawks 6, Bears 3

I assume in the event you’re on the lookout for something optimistic out of Seattle Seahawks’ very ugly 6-3 win over the Chicago Bears (except for the precise win), it’s the truth that it completed in effectively beneath three hours and was very gentle on penalties for each groups. The sport was free-flowing boredom from begin to end. Should you’re going to be boring, at the very least make it fast.

It’s time for the penultimate Winners and Losers of the 2024 common season.

Winners

Leonard Williams

Large Cat added one other three tackles for loss and two sacks to his ledger, giving him 9 sacks on the 12 months. Do I hear a 10-sack season for Leonard Williams? He’s been the most effective defensive participant all 12 months and this back-end of the 12 months has simply been a clinic from the veteran defensive lineman. Seattle’s protection as a complete has been good. Williams has been nice.

Devon Witherspoon

That wasn’t like his Monday Night time Soccer masterclass towards the New York Giants, however Spoon dominated. Three tackles for loss and a “sack” of Caleb Williams that was actually simply Williams operating out of bounds for no acquire whereas Spoon chased from an angle. Spoon is extraordinarily enjoyable to observe and I’m glad that he at the very least received a sack on his stat sheet, as a result of he’s earned one thing main in his season.

Uchenna Nwosu

That was his greatest recreation since getting back from his newest harm. Nwosu had a move defensed and his first sack of the season, and generated just a few different pressures on the night. It’s encouraging to see Nwosu salvage one thing from a irritating season largely spent on the shelf.

Coby Bryant

One other occasion of Bryant delivering a late strain on a quarterback blitz to pressure an errant throw. He did it versus Aaron Rodgers within the New York Jets recreation and he did it on the game-deciding play towards the Bears. Bryant has been a revelation as a full-time beginning security and he is likely to be somebody who’s a contract extension pending what occurs subsequent season.

Riq Woolen

After the entire criticisms levied towards him for the efficiency towards the Inexperienced Bay Packers and the following “workforce violation” benching to start out the Minnesota Vikings recreation, Riq wanted that game-ending decide within the worst approach. He wanted it just a little extra after getting beat on that D.J. Moore drag route on 4th and 6 earlier than the two-minute warning. Woolen snapped Caleb Williams’ NFL document streak of consecutive passes with out an interception and was in any other case superb in protection on this matchup.

Kenny McIntosh

It was robust sledding for Zach Charbonnet after a quick begin, ending with simply 57 yards on 15 carries, however Kenny McIntosh is benefiting from his elevated taking part in time. He had a career-long 25-yard rush to assist arrange the Seahawks’ first area aim and completed with 46 yards on 7 carries. I’ve not likely put McIntosh on right here this season however it’s good to see him get entangled extra and be efficient.

Charbonnet was excellent in move safety and deserves a shoutout, however the statline after halftime wasn’t something main.

Jake Curhan

As soon as a Seahawk, at all times a Seahawk. Thanks for the maintain on Uchenna Nwosu to remove a landing.

Mike Macdonald

First-year head coach clinching a successful document? That’s a very good private second for him, even when it doesn’t result in the playoffs. His protection additionally kicked ass and had Caleb Williams in a tizzy.

Noah Fant

The Seahawks solely had two scoring drives and three of Fant’s 4 catches for 42 yards got here on these collection. Maybe his most vital contribution was getting Seattle out of a 2nd and 16 jam (because of DK Metcalf’s private foul penalty) following the two-minute warning. Fant’s taking part in his greatest soccer late within the season, though his look ahead to his first landing since 2022 continues.

Olu Oluwatimi

Oluwatimi recovered Smith’s fumble on the Darrell Taylor strip sack, in any other case the Bears would’ve been in area aim vary immediately. Extremely, Smith hasn’t misplaced a fumble but this 12 months, and he can thank Olu Olu for holding it so.

Jason Myers

Myers was chargeable for 100% of the Seahawks’ factors and he drilled a 50-yard area aim with ease in tough situations. His eighth make of fifty+ yards on the season extends his franchise document and is a brand new profession excessive.

Losers

Everybody who watched that recreation

Have been you not entertained? Oh, you weren’t? Nicely, I do know a few of you prefer to see nice protection so I can’t knock you in the event you liked Seattle’s defensive efficiency, however there was a complete lot of unhealthy offense happening on this one. That was this technology’s Seahawks vs. Browns recreation from 2011, which was additionally 6-3 however went towards Seattle.

For neutrals, that was not enjoyable. At the least unhealthy soccer might be enjoyable with horrible interceptions, wacky turnovers, missed area targets, and different lowlights. This recreation was a string of incomplete passes, throws wanting the sticks, and punts aplenty.

Ryan Grubb

Nicely, Grubb gave us a very good quarter and alter of operating the ball successfully and with range in assault. That’s about it. The Bears had allowed 102 factors over the previous three weeks and the Seahawks turned up and Chicago gave up the fewest factors its allowed all season.

Grubb ran the ball extra and nonetheless had a low play motion fee. When he threw the ball it was all on the line of scrimmage, which I kind of get given the climate and the compromised state of Geno Smith’s well being, however a display to Pharaoh Brown?! Final week it was pretend tossing to DK Metcalf behind the road of scrimmage and this week he pulls out one thing worse for a man who’s had a number of drops on the season and is a identified non-threat on offense.

No matter you consider Geno Smith, his outcomes with Shane Waldron have been vastly superior to what we’re seeing with Grubb. He’s neither the primary nor the final offensive coordinator to be restricted by his offensive line. Grubb’s outcomes are the worst we’ve seen out of any first-year Seahawks OC since Jeremy Bates, who received the boot in 2010.

Pharaoh Brown

I don’t actually have the power to write down about it proper now, however John Schneider’s free agent additions this offseason have been nothing wanting a catastrophe, and Brown is a kind of gamers. Pharaoh Brown was right here to be a blocking tight finish and he doesn’t persistently block effectively. For some motive he’s getting the ball on a display move and he fumbles the ball, which fortunately was not a landing after Kyler Gordon was dominated down by contact. In his protection, he ought to by no means be in place to get these targets within the first place.

Brown won’t be part of the Seahawks in 2025.

Jaelon Darden

Don’t return a punt at your individual 5 until you’ve got acres of house. A few of that’s all the way down to the lackluster blocking the Seahawks proceed to have on particular groups, however the punt return and kick return choices no matter who’s on the sector have been a serious a part of the Seahawks’ horrible area place woes all season.

Ultimate Notes

Geno Smith wasn’t superb and he’s not wholesome. He ought to’ve been picked within the purple zone (once more) and the thought course of that led him to pre-determine a decent window throw to Tyler Lockett was baffling. Smith’s hesitancy to scramble was additionally evident and you may’t blame him given the knee harm, however the near-interception appeared to impression his resolution making to be as cautious as potential for the remainder of the night time. He’s additionally been liable to underthrow fairly just a few of his misfires in latest weeks. Formally he had a turnover-free recreation however he was lucky to not have two. I’m nonetheless of the opinion that the problems relating to his season are way more to do with the circumstances round him than him particularly, however that was a worrying efficiency even with out turnovers.

DK Metcalf hadn’t had a penalty since Week 4 towards the Detroit Lions so I’m not tremendous mad about that foolish skirmish with Tyrique Stevenson, however you possibly can’t damage the workforce like that. Present some restraint simply as soon as. The one motive Metcalf averted the losers record is as a result of he made an unimaginable arms catch on an underthrown Geno Smith play motion move, one which he’s seldom ever made in his profession. That’s a optimistic to me!
Jaxon Smith-Njigba solely had three catches for 32 yards, ending his prolonged streak of video games with at the very least 70 receiving yards. He wants 5 extra catches to surpass Tyler Lockett’s 100-catch single-season franchise document.
I used to be skeptical about re-signing Jarran Reed initially of the season however he received the sport ball for his efforts and has been taking part in very effectively the previous a number of weeks. He was considered one of six Seahawks to sack Caleb Williams.
The Bears have an unserious teaching employees and apparently nobody on that workforce is aware of how or when to name timeout. It’s not only a Matt Eberflus drawback.
I mentioned within the recreation thread feedback that I discover the Seahawks to not be thrilling and I stand by that. There are thrilling particular person gamers however the workforce itself is just not nice to observe and hasn’t been for years. I’m unsure how a lot that may be pinned on the teaching employees in comparison with the roster high quality at this level. An offense that lacks explosive performs whether or not within the run or passing recreation + a protection that doesn’t persistently generate a variety of turnovers or adverse performs + an total workforce susceptible to a ton of penalties is just not must-see TV. It’s additionally how the Seahawks make video games towards poor opposition shut whereas they’ve most of the time been blown out towards Tremendous Bowl contenders. Till that adjustments, the ceiling on the Seahawks is just not going to raise.
And but, the division remains to be inside attain. I’m rooting for Week 18 winner-take-all. Go Cardinals! Let’s see L.J. Collier sack Matthew Stafford. Let’s have Evan Brown flip into Steve Hutchinson and block Kobie Turner out of SoFi Stadium. DeeJay Dallas? It’s time to deal with a kind of kickoff returns.