Post Mortem: Sea v Chicago
Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2026 4:48 pm
The Monday Night Massacre, The Disaster in Seattle, Mariners at Lumen...
Pick your most terrifying title, they all apply. Yeah, that was ugly. That was Gas Station Sushi.
Funny how last year all these moments were falling our way enroute to a title run. Pretty amazing when you look back at all the bounces and happenstance that fell Seattle's way. This year is the exact opposite.
It's hard to understand how much Darnold is to blame. New OC, so many injuries, now an oline shuffle (more on that in a moment) just in time for prime-time heavy weight fight. Worst timing ever. I want to give The Darnold some benefit of the doubt here because Fleury is doing him NO favors.
I did not watch the whole game - I saw our opening three and out delight and knew what we were in for - a long night of nothing from the offense... AGAIN. I was checking on and off and virtually disappointed every single time I switched back from a delightful movie I was watching called The Little Things with Denzel Washington putting on an acting clinic and Rami Malik doing a master class in horrible, wooden acting. Ooof.
There has to be some acknowledgement of a change in the oline needing time to gel - we literally learned this lesson when Bradford went down, now, suddenly, he looks like the MVP of the whole fucking oline. Maybe he should have played and Zabel taken the night off. Who would have thought that acquiring an all-pro guard may have a negative ripple effect across the line. Continuity is everything - now that has been up-fucking-ended.
Wild.
The chasm between the offense's productivity and the defenses has become the elephant in the room. We can no longer overlook the fact that the defense has to carry the entire fucking team at this point - and it looks like they are cracking. Understandable. Imagine crushing it for 20 games - while watching your counterpart circle the drain faster and faster - it has to be demoralizing. And that's what this game was: demoralizing. Everything in a nutshell. Special teams have fallen off; the offense is a disaster zone.
Seattle has a receiver problem. Horton is not a #2, he is barely a number 3. No, we ain't trading. We'll stock up in the draft. That room is just so razor thing now. Horton is way too timid - understandable when you're as fragile as he has proven to be. Shaheed? I am unsure, but I do know Seattle needs to get BIG in that room - big guys. Shaheed is small, Horton too frail. Get a big fucking body in there.
Fleury. He is officially in trouble. While lamenting the hire, let's also remember we were making a Super Bowl run, not a lot of time to hire a new OC, the best of the best were probably off the table when we had to make a decision. I understand growing pains, I understand frustrations and the emotional reactions, all valid, but the cold hard reality is his play calling - far too often - simply makes no sense. Zero situational awareness - too many times. I flipped over in the 4th, down by 10 (I think) to watch an off tackle run for three yards. I literally laughed and turned back to the movie.
We all want to find blame, point the finger, identify a target of our wrath. All the moving parts acknowledged (injuries, oline shuffling, etc), I still cannot understand the play calling - what is that play supposed to do in that situation? I have defended Fleury, I still support that hire, and I have given him plenty of latitude with the understanding he is growing into the role in real time. But, at some point, there has to be some common sense going on here - some display of strategic thinking. Low-return runs when desperation mode is kicking in - utterly baffling. Very, very hard to watch.
The oline will get better - but now we have the dilemma of who to play at right guard, a number one pick or a guy that has been much maligned but also an anchor in his own way. Can the run game get going now that our best assets are back? Or are they our best assets anymore?
Someone has to step up from somewhere and take the load of the defense, this is not sustainable, this is getting into mutiny territory. You can see Macdonald getting ibno desperation mode with the blitzing - a rare thing for him. Reminds me of the LOB days when they were usually forced to carry the load while we loaded up on three and outs and punting. There is a breaking point - mentally and physically - for putting ALL the responsibility on one unit. But that is exactly what we have now.
The funny thing about this loss is not that it bothers me, I have pretty much shrugged it off, what else can you do? What it does is make me appreciate the incredibly special run we had last year, and just how fucking hard that is to do. Looks like we're gonna eat shit this season. So it goes.
A loss to Arizona shold pobably be expected, but cue Seattle fans predicting a 63-3 blowout in 3..2..1...
If you haven't seen The Little Things - highly recommend. Not just a delighful film, but a perfect metaphor for this season, for football in general, for life in general.
Go hawks....
Pick your most terrifying title, they all apply. Yeah, that was ugly. That was Gas Station Sushi.
Funny how last year all these moments were falling our way enroute to a title run. Pretty amazing when you look back at all the bounces and happenstance that fell Seattle's way. This year is the exact opposite.
It's hard to understand how much Darnold is to blame. New OC, so many injuries, now an oline shuffle (more on that in a moment) just in time for prime-time heavy weight fight. Worst timing ever. I want to give The Darnold some benefit of the doubt here because Fleury is doing him NO favors.
I did not watch the whole game - I saw our opening three and out delight and knew what we were in for - a long night of nothing from the offense... AGAIN. I was checking on and off and virtually disappointed every single time I switched back from a delightful movie I was watching called The Little Things with Denzel Washington putting on an acting clinic and Rami Malik doing a master class in horrible, wooden acting. Ooof.
There has to be some acknowledgement of a change in the oline needing time to gel - we literally learned this lesson when Bradford went down, now, suddenly, he looks like the MVP of the whole fucking oline. Maybe he should have played and Zabel taken the night off. Who would have thought that acquiring an all-pro guard may have a negative ripple effect across the line. Continuity is everything - now that has been up-fucking-ended.
Wild.
The chasm between the offense's productivity and the defenses has become the elephant in the room. We can no longer overlook the fact that the defense has to carry the entire fucking team at this point - and it looks like they are cracking. Understandable. Imagine crushing it for 20 games - while watching your counterpart circle the drain faster and faster - it has to be demoralizing. And that's what this game was: demoralizing. Everything in a nutshell. Special teams have fallen off; the offense is a disaster zone.
Seattle has a receiver problem. Horton is not a #2, he is barely a number 3. No, we ain't trading. We'll stock up in the draft. That room is just so razor thing now. Horton is way too timid - understandable when you're as fragile as he has proven to be. Shaheed? I am unsure, but I do know Seattle needs to get BIG in that room - big guys. Shaheed is small, Horton too frail. Get a big fucking body in there.
Fleury. He is officially in trouble. While lamenting the hire, let's also remember we were making a Super Bowl run, not a lot of time to hire a new OC, the best of the best were probably off the table when we had to make a decision. I understand growing pains, I understand frustrations and the emotional reactions, all valid, but the cold hard reality is his play calling - far too often - simply makes no sense. Zero situational awareness - too many times. I flipped over in the 4th, down by 10 (I think) to watch an off tackle run for three yards. I literally laughed and turned back to the movie.
We all want to find blame, point the finger, identify a target of our wrath. All the moving parts acknowledged (injuries, oline shuffling, etc), I still cannot understand the play calling - what is that play supposed to do in that situation? I have defended Fleury, I still support that hire, and I have given him plenty of latitude with the understanding he is growing into the role in real time. But, at some point, there has to be some common sense going on here - some display of strategic thinking. Low-return runs when desperation mode is kicking in - utterly baffling. Very, very hard to watch.
The oline will get better - but now we have the dilemma of who to play at right guard, a number one pick or a guy that has been much maligned but also an anchor in his own way. Can the run game get going now that our best assets are back? Or are they our best assets anymore?
Someone has to step up from somewhere and take the load of the defense, this is not sustainable, this is getting into mutiny territory. You can see Macdonald getting ibno desperation mode with the blitzing - a rare thing for him. Reminds me of the LOB days when they were usually forced to carry the load while we loaded up on three and outs and punting. There is a breaking point - mentally and physically - for putting ALL the responsibility on one unit. But that is exactly what we have now.
The funny thing about this loss is not that it bothers me, I have pretty much shrugged it off, what else can you do? What it does is make me appreciate the incredibly special run we had last year, and just how fucking hard that is to do. Looks like we're gonna eat shit this season. So it goes.
A loss to Arizona shold pobably be expected, but cue Seattle fans predicting a 63-3 blowout in 3..2..1...
If you haven't seen The Little Things - highly recommend. Not just a delighful film, but a perfect metaphor for this season, for football in general, for life in general.
Go hawks....