5 big takeaways from Chicago Bears' ugly loss to Seattle Seahawks on Thursday

CHICAGO – The Chicago Bears put together yet another disappointing effort during Thursday’s loss to the Seattle Seahawks, 6-3, at Soldier Field.

Three points matched a season-low offensive output from Nov. 10 against New England. Quarterback Caleb Williams ended the game with his first interception since Oct. 13 in London. The Bears (4-12) lost their 10th consecutive game.

With a chance to tie or win the game, the Bears put together a discombobulated final drive. More on that final drive here. Interim head coach Thomas Brown said his team wasn’t confused, but the Bears definitely could’ve handled the final minutes better.

Here are the five big takeaways from the game.

1. In field goal range?

The Bears had the ball at the Seahawks' 40-yard line, facing a fourth-and-10. Williams had already come up with one miraculous play on fourth down earlier in the possession, scrambling to his right and connecting with DJ Moore for a first down. He then connected with Rome Odunze for a 15-yard gain on third-and-14 near midfield.

The Bears had a decision to make. From the 40-yard line, a field goal try would’ve been 57 yards. Kicker Cairo Santos’ career long was 55 yards.

Trailing by three points, the Bears could give it a try to force overtime. Brown elected to keep the offense on the field. He said after the game that he would’ve wanted a few more yards in order to kick.

Asked if he would be comfortable kicking in that spot, Santos said, “I try to show that.”

“I try to get myself ready to kick whenever they want me to kick,” Santos said. “There’s still an opportunity to win the game there and not go for the tie. If that’s the strategy, I’m behind that.”

As they had all night, the Seahawks pressured Williams and forced him to throw quickly. They appeared to tip the pass too. It landed in cornerback Tariq Woolen’s hands for an interception.

“It seemed like we were going for the win there, which I’m totally fine with,” tight end Cole Kmet said. “At this point, nothing to lose so just trying to go for the win.”

2. The sacks keep coming

Once again, the sacks piled up for Williams. The rookie took seven sacks Thursday, bringing his season total to 67.

Williams is nine shy of David Carr’s NFL record 76 sacks from the 2002 season. Williams is now alone in fourth place among the worst sack seasons for a QB.

Carr’s 76 is the record. Randall Cunningham had 72 in 1986. Carr went for 68 more sacks in 2005. Those are the only seasons ahead of Williams' 2024 total.

On Thursday, the issues were a combination of offensive line deficiencies, holding onto the football too long and nobody being open.

Williams pinned the blame on himself, saying: “I’ll definitely take the heat for this.”

3. A split-second touchdown

Bears safety Kyler Gordon wasn’t trying to sell a touchdown to the referees in the third quarter when he returned a fumble 62 yards to end zone by himself. He felt the play should’ve been a touchdown.

“I thought I’d be able to get a free one,” Gordon said. “I would just go to the house and celebrate. Everyone, the whole crowd got loud.”

Gordon ripped the ball out of Seahawks tight end Pharaoh Brown’s hands and ran it back to the end zone. Soldier Field erupted when referees initially ruled that Gordon had scored a touchdown – much to everyone’s surprise.

None of the Bears or Seahawks players had run after Gordon. Gordon said after the game that he heard a referee say he hadn’t watched the play and didn’t know what happened.

The touchdown was ultimately overturned after video review found that a player had touched Gordon’s leg down after he recovered the fumble. Gordon said he hadn’t seen a replay of the play and still thought he scored a touchdown.

“It’s sad,” Gordon said. “I haven’t had a touchdown since high school. I could have had two this year.”

4. Defense gets its groove back

The defense looked like its old self Thursday for the first time since the Bears fired former head coach Matt Eberflus. The unit limited the Seahawks to just two field goals. Six points marked the fewest allowed by the Bears this season.

“Our defense has a certain standard and we’ve showed it,” Gordon said. “So, obviously syncing a little bit. Just getting back on the guys to get back right. It’s just important to know what we can do.”

The Bears did much better than they had in the previous three games since Eberflus was let go. In those games against the San Francisco 49ers, Minnesota Vikings and Detroit Lions, the Bears defense allowed an average of 34 points per game and 418.7 total yards per game.

On Thursday, the Seahawks finished with 265 total yards of offense. Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith totaled 160 passing yards, going 17-for-23 passing. Seattle went 5-for-13 on third down and didn’t convert on its lone trip to the red zone.

Although the defensive players were proud of returning to form, many said snapping the team’s losing streak was more important.

“That’s just the standard that we have for ourselves,” Bears safety Kevin Byard said. “We’re trying to win ballgames. [There’s] no real moral victories, we still lost 10 in a row. I guess we should’ve held them to three points, zero points at the end of the day.”

5. ‘Sell the team’ chants

The chants grew louder as the Bears' final drive grew more chaotic. Once Woolen intercepted Williams' fourth-down heave at the end of the game, they were as clear as day.

Chants of “sell the team” rang through Soldier Field as the Seahawks took a knee for the victory. It was a message directed squarely at the McCaskey family.

Bears linebacker TJ Edwards, who is from Lake Villa and who played high school ball at Lakes, said he didn’t hear the chants.

“I’m from here, too, so I know how it goes here,” Edwards said. “I’m focused on my job and how I can help my team win.”

As a rookie, Williams is newer to the fans' frustrations. He said frustrations have been around way longer than he has. In his view, all Williams and the Bears can do is go out and try to win games and not focus on outside noise.

“Fans are going to cheer and maybe boo sometimes,” Williams said. “You can’t react to that. That’s not something that we react to. We have a job to do. Sometimes you don’t do so well on the job and some days you’re pretty consistent and some days you play a great game.”