3 Takeaways from Seahawks-Bears

Big Cat, Spoon and the Grubb Dilemma

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My eyeballs are still bleeding from that Thursday night matchup between the Chicago Bears and the Seattle Seahawks. I can’t imagine what that experience was like for someone watching with no rooting interest. I really can’t imagine what the experience was like for a Bears fan. As bad as the Seahawks were on Thursday, the Bears were even worse. Not only did they allow seven sacks and amass just 179 total yards of offense, they looked as poorly coached as when Matt Eberflus was bungling timeouts on Thanksgiving. The four minute drill by Chicago was atrocious as they wasted timeouts, called horrific plays and ultimately passed on a game tying field goal.

What does this all mean? It means that the Seahawks are still alive for the NFC West crown. Of course they need a lot of help. The simplest way to may week 18 interesting is for the Arizona Cardinals to defeat the Los Angeles Rams. That scenario leaves the Hawks and Rams tied with a game in Los Angeles next week. Should the Rams win on Saturday night, the Seahawks will need four of the following six teams to lose this weekend: Bills (vs. Jets), Vikings (vs. Packers), 49ers (vs. Lions), Commanders (vs. Falcons), Bengals (vs. Broncos), and Browns (vs. Dolphins). The most likely scenario here would be the Vikings, 49ers, Browns and one of the Commanders or Bengals losing. Not impossible, but let’s just all root for the Cardinals.

On to the three takeaways this week.

More Flowers for Leonard Williams

Anyone who reads SeaTown Sports’ Seahawks coverage or listens to our podcast knows that we love Leonard Williams. But how could you not? Williams recorded to top PFF grade for the Seahawks’ defense on Thursday with six quarterback pressures, two sacks and four total tackles. Even more impressive was his work against double teams.

Williams is ranked fourth among all interior defenders in the NFL according to Pro Football Focus. His 86.4 grade is the best in his career to go along with his nine sacks. Along with good seasons by Boye Mafe, Jarran Reed, and Derrick Hall, the Hawks defensive line is a bright spot this season. The brightest of them all is Leonard Williams.

The Impact of Devon Witherspoon

It is clear that Devon Witherspoon is turning into an elite corner. He won’t get All-Pro votes and he may not even make the Pro Bowl, but that is because much of what he does goes unnoticed in games. According to PFF, Witherspoon allowed two catches for 14 yards on Thursday. One of those plays was an out route to DJ Moore that Witherspoon was inches away from turning into a pick six. The other was the fourth down play where Caleb Williams improvised and hit Moore for a key conversion. It was a great play by Moore and Williams and Witherspoon still provided good coverage.

But Witherspoon does so much more. He had five tackles, including his first sack, against the Bears. He plays with ferocity and no fear. He provides a physicality that the Hawks lacked after the Legion of Boom left. Witherspoon has 74 tackles on the season and 35 “STOPs” (plays that constitute a failure by the opposing team). Both of those numbers rank first in the NFL among all cornerbacks. Lucky for Hawk fans, head coach Mike Macdonald recognizes Witherspoon’s awesomeness as well. Read more about Witherspoon’s impact here in John Boyle’s post.

Witherspoon made plays everywhere on Thursday/Everett Herald

The Grubb Dilemma

The Seahawks offense under Shane Waldron was a mess in 2023. Seahawk fans were ready for something new and laughed at the Chicago Bears for hiring Waldron for the 2024 season. Sadly for Waldron, he only lasted nine games in Chicago before being fired. Meanwhile the Hawks stayed home (so to speak) by hiring the offensive coordinator from the Washington Huskies, Ryan Grubb. Anyone who watched the Huskies last year was excited for the innovation and creativity under Grubb, but mostly were stoked for the down field passing that he was known for with the Huskies.

Now after 16 games, the Hawks are nearly the same as they were on offense in 2023.

2023 stats
Points per game - 17th in NFL
Yards per game - 21st in NFL
Passing yards per game - 14th in NFL
Rushing yards per game - 28th in NFL
PFF Offense Grade - 12th in NFL

2024 stats
Points per game - 20th in NFL
Yards per game - 14th in NFL
Passing yards per game - 5th in NFL
Rushing yards per game - 29th in NFL
PFF Offense Grade - 16th in NFL

The inability to get the run game going after the first drive and the lack of creativity on offense in the passing game led to a putrid offensive performance against the Bears on Thursday night. While Grubb designed some great screen plays (specifically for Noah Fant), too many of his passing plays had receivers running at the same depth. If Chicago wanted to know that the Hawks would do on a 3rd and short play, just defend the sticks. Look at this play on the first drive when Seattle faced a 3rd and 3 in the red zone.

With Geno’s troubles in the red zone this year, it was easy to question his decision making on this throw to Tyler Lockett. And question we should! It isn’t a good decision. But look at all the receivers at the five yard line. No one is providing any stress on the defense to create confusion. The Bears can all just play zone in between the Hawks five options and the deep safety doesn’t have to do anything at all. Sadly, this wasn’t the only example from Thursday.

On this play, the Hawks have three receivers all at the 33 yard line and all about seven feet apart from each other. This plays right into the Bears hands as they can defend all three players with ease.

It doesn’t stop there. There are three receivers around the 45 to 43 yard line of Chicago with so much space underneath.

Am I being fair? Probably not. I am just choosing a few plays to show my frustration with Grubb, but the results also speak volumes. When DK Metcalf has no more than four catches in any game over the last five, there has to be a small problem at least. When the Seahawks run for under 100 yards in five of the last seven games, there is a problem. However, Grubb is a clear upgrade over Waldron. Additionally, Grubb deserves a chance to grow as a coordinator and I think he will. The Hawks will have a tough call in the offseason, but I think Grubb should stay and be allowed to show what he can do in a second season.