Someone Got Put to Sleep in Seattle
Bears 34, Seahawks 17
Overlook was standing room only, and every time those big orange sleeves showed up in Seattle’s backfield, the place fucking erupted. I went home, woke up, and put the game back on while I was writing this. You could hear Bears fans on the replay in Seattle, too. Of course you could.
I was nervous as hell before kickoff. We’d just sent two first-round picks to Tennessee for Jeffery Simmons, and his first assignment was the defending champs in their building on Monday night. I’d spent all week calling this a measuring-stick game. Then kickoff came and I remembered how much I hate finding out.
Then Cam Lewis hit somebody so clean it looked like he’d used a hundred Mr. Clean Magic Erasers. Seattle went three-and-out. And then Ben Johnson took his sweet-ass time giving them the ball back.
Seventeen plays. Eighty yards. Eight minutes and thirty-two seconds. Caleb Williams hit Luther Burden for the touchdown, and by the time Sam Darnold got up off the bench, there were five and a half minutes left in the first quarter.
That’s how you walk into somebody else’s bar and start moving the furniture.
I loved the mix. Caleb spread the ball around. Rome Odunze made the kind of catches that keep a drive alive and give you a second to sit back down. Cairo Santos hit both his field goals in the second quarter. And when the run was getting two or three yards, Ben kept calling it. D’Andre Swift ran 27 times for 69 yards and scored three touchdowns.
And while I’ve got you, I’ve been asking for more Roschon Johnson since the beginning of the season. Give the man some damn carries. I want to see what this backfield looks like when you make a defense deal with all three backs..
Jeffery Simmons does not play fucking corner
I love what Simmons did. I loved watching him take on double-teams, get a sack, and get on guys between plays in his first game as a Bear. I loved seeing Montez Sweat come off the edge with somebody wrecking things up the middle. Seattle couldn’t get its run game going and went 1-for-11 on third down. That’s a hell of a night for the defense.
And then Jaxon Smith-Njigba got loose for a 43-yard touchdown right before halftime.
How many times do we have to watch a receiver like that run free before somebody says, “Hey, maybe put two fucking guys on him”?
I’ve been bitching about the corners on this blog and podcast for years. The missed tackle from Jaylon Johnson. The holding call on Tyrique Stevenson that wiped out a Sweat sack. You do the hard part, you get the quarterback on the ground, and then everybody’s walking back to the line of scrimmage because there’s a flag. That shit makes me nuts.
By the fourth quarter, 20–9 had turned into 20–17. The Loveland fumble gave Seattle a short field, and a defensive hold erased a Cam Lewis pick in the end zone. Suddenly the whole building was back in it. I went from laughing at Overlook to doing that thing where you stand there with your drink in your hand for ten minutes and never take a sip.
This is the part this GM still has to answer for. He paid up for a hell of a defensive tackle. He also put this secondary together. I can enjoy the first part and still ask him what the fuck we’re doing about the second.
Then the Bears shut the damn door
Third-and-nine. Seattle’s crowd is back in the game. Caleb throws (runs) a quick one to Kalif Raymond, and Raymond takes it 39 yards to the five. Swift scores on the next play.
That was my favorite part of Caleb’s night. Seattle had just made it a three-point game, and he gave Raymond a ball he could catch and run with. Watching Caleb handle a spot like that, in that building, you can see him growing up in front of us.
Then came the play I’d been waiting to see since the trade. Simmons and Sweat forced Darnold out of the pocket. Austin Booker tipped the pass. James Lynch picked it off and took it down to the six. Swift punched it in again. Good night.
That’s what got me so fired up about the trade in the first place. Send four, get to the quarterback, and keep seven guys back. You can get off the field without asking your corners to spend the whole night on an island. With this group, that matters a whole fucking lot.
Seeing No. 99 in those orange sleeves gave me a flashback to Khalil Mack in that white jersey at Lambeau in 2018, just smoking people in his Bears debut. I remember thinking, Holy shit, we have one of those guys now.
I had that feeling again Monday night. This time I got to enjoy the final score.
So, about those picks
I’m still keeping “fuck them picks” in my pocket. If the Bears win it all, I’ll scream it in the middle of Midtown. You can hold me to that.
But anyone who says this wasn’t a statement game can kiss my ass. The Bears went into Seattle, took the first punch the champs threw back at them, and scored the last 14 points. They’re 6–2. And if you’re asking me whether Ben Johnson is legit, I’d like to know what the hell you’re still waiting to see.
There are four division games left, plus Buffalo and Jacksonville. The corners still scare me. And with this roster and what they just spent to get Simmons, I want the damn division.
But I’ll worry about all that after I finish this replay.
Someone got put to sleep in Seattle.
And I can still hear our fans on the fucking broadcast.
We're waiting…
