Week 4 - Sunday 1st October 2006

If anyone was under the impression that this season was going to be a procession to another Superbowl then this game was like a slap in the face by the flying produce of Pikes Place Fish Market.

The Seahawks were just flat out beaten by the better team on the night. In soccer parlance you could say that the Bears "wanted it more" and whilst that saying can be meaningless if over used it does seem particularly apt about this performance. It was our worst defeat since the Buffalo Bills pounded us 38-9 at Qwest Field in November 2004 and I'd sort of forgotten how much they hurt.

I'm sure that Mike Holmgren would vehemently dispute any charges of complacency on the part of the Seahawks but they certainly gave the impression that they really didn't need to bring their 'A' game to beat the Bears. With Shaun Alexander out injured the Seahawks were tentative in the extreme in the running game which in turn forced more pressure on Matt Hasselbeck who wasn't helped by a case of the drops from all of his receivers.

Things actually started out OK but in hindsight I should have been more worried than I actually was as the Seahawks failed to move the ball from the Bears 17 and settled for a field goal. First blood and all that but it was sadly as good as the night was going to get.

Last season there was a BANG cartoon showing a butterfly shattering the fragile knee of Bears QB Rex Grossman forcing him to miss the season. Like him the Bears limped into the play offs on the back of a tremendous defense and not very much offense. I must admit to still having my doubts about Grossman but apart from a great sack by Russell Davis he was left pretty much untouched for most of the night and a 69 yard drive saw him hit Muhsin Mohammed for 7-3 at the end of the first quarter.

The Bears added a field goal for 10-3 but the Seahawks were driving into position on the Bears 30 with no real sign yet of what was to come. What happened next though went a long way to sealing the Seahawks fate as Hasselbeck threw an interception straight at Bears CB Ricky Manning and the only thing that stopped him taking it all the way back was Hass himself who forced him out of bounds on the Seahawks 36. The Bears only added a field goal but the damage had been done.

By now resembling the 2004 Seahawks the panic button was well and truly pressed as Hasselbeck rolled to the sideline on 3rd and 15 and tried to force a pass into Bobby Engram who looked on TV to have every member of the Bears secondary surrounding him. The pass was tipped and Ricky Manning, an NFL Cornerback sounding suspiciously like a bit part character in Eastenders, picked it off again. He returned it for a TD which was overturned due to 15 or so blocks in the back on the run in but it only postponed the misery as Thomas Jones eventually forced it in from the 3 and a 20-3 scoreline.

The Seahawks added a field goal before the half but on the first possession in the 3rd quarter the Bears marched down the field for another Thomas Jones TD, 27-6 and game over.

The rest of the game was depressing as with the running game well and truly abandoned the Hawks scarcely managed another first down as Matt Hasslebeck pictured about was hurried or sacked on seemingly every play. That the Bears only added 10 more points we can be thankful.

Despite my disappointment I think it would be wrong to draw too many conclusions from just this game but one thing is for certain. In a 16 game season you don't get too many chances of playing as badly as this and still making the play offs let alone even thinking about home field advantage.

Let us hope this was a blip rather than the shape of things to come for the Seahawks.

HawksHead

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