Russell Wilson threw for 202 yards and two touchdowns, and Jermaine Kearse hauled in four receptions for 63 yards and a touchdown as the Seattle Seahawks throttled the Chicago Bears by a score of 34-6 on Friday night.
The Bears deferred on the coin toss, and the Seahawks came out before a raucous crowd and immediately went to work. The Seattle offense quickly got to work, finding soft spots in the Bears’ defense and converting on two key third down plays. On a shotgun draw play, Russell Wilson handed the ball off to Marshawn Lynch, and when Shea McClellin overpursued to the middle of the field, the star running back cut to the outside and scored easily to make it 7-0 Seattle.
When the first team offense came out for the Bears to start their first drive of the contest, Jay Cutler looked like he was in sync with his receivers early. He found Brandon Marshall on an excellent inside slant pattern, and then found Alshon Jeffery on a curl route for another first down. Matt Forte also had his first big run of the preseason for another first down, but after Jeffery dropped a 3rd-and-15 pass from Cutler, the Bears were forced to kick the ball away.
On the Seahawks’ second drive, they were the beneficiaries of a couple of silly penalties that extended the drive. First it was Jeremiah Ratliff getting drawn offside on a third-and-short, and then it was Lance Briggs doing the honors as he was flagged for a late hit on Wilson. Finally, the Seahawks put the Bears out of their misery on a third-and-goal play, as Wilson beat Briggs around the edge to the pylon to put his team in front by a score of 14-0 with a minute to go in the first quarter.
As the second quarter got underway, the Seahawks took over on offense after a failed drive by the Bears, and they marched right back down the field. Percy Harvin had a huge catch over the middle, and gained even more after the catch when Tim Jennings tried to cut off the area outside of the hash marks. Finally, Jermaine Kearse snared a 12-yard touchdown catch from Wilson, and with about eight minutes to go in the half, Seattle led 21-0.
After another failed drive by the Bears, the Seahawks got great field position as Earl Thomas returned a punt 60 yards thanks to some poor coverage by the Bears. After just a few plays, Wilson found running back Christine Michael on a screen pass, and he waltzed into the end zone to give the Seahawks a 28-0 lead with just under two minutes remaining in the half.
The Bears did finally get some good progress on offense in the last moments of the quarter, but they were denied a touchdown on two occasions. On the first one, Martellus Bennett hauled in a pass from Cutler near the goal line, but was stopped just a half-yard shy of the end zone. On the second, Marshall was whistled for offensive pass interference after Dante Rosario caught a touchdown, negating the play. On the next play, Cutler threw an interception, and after a Steven Hauschka field goal from 59-yards out, the Seahawks led 31-0 at the half.
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In the third quarter of the game, the Seahawks continued to maintain a stranglehold on the game, as Jordan Palmer and the second string offense struggled out of the gate. Santonio Holmes did get his first reception of the preseason, but a couple of stalled out drives allowed the Seahawks to tack on another Hauschka field goal and lead after three quarters by a score of 34-0.
With Jimmy Clausen stepping into the huddle for the fourth quarter, the Bears' offense seemed to find another gear, and they began to move down the field. Armanti Edwards made a couple of nice plays on the drive, as did running back Shaun Draughn, but ultimately they weren't able to get the ball into the end zone as Edwards couldn't haul in a third-and-goal pass. Robbie Gould did boot home a field goal however, and the Bears got on the board.
After a C.J. Wilson interception along the sidelines, the Bears' offense went back to work in an attempt to get a few more reps before the end of the game. Clausen made a brilliant play to dive for a first down on a fourth-down conversion, but the play was negated by a holding penalty in the backfield. Gould kicked another field goal, but the Bears couldn't tack on anything else as they ultimately fell by 28 points.
The Bears will have to cut their roster down to 75 players by Tuesday, and then on Thursday they will play their final game of the preseason on Thursday against the Cleveland Browns.
