How bad was it for the Seattle Seahawks on Monday Night Football? Bad enough that the punter is on the winners list. The Chicago Bears beat Seattle 34-17, and the loss dropped the Seahawks to 4-4. Chicago won in all three phases of the game.

A few Seahawks deserve credit for their night. Most of this list, though, is about what went wrong, and plenty did. Seattle isn’t supposed to lose in primetime at their home field.

And yet, everything tonight showed that this team still has a lot of work to do.

Winners

WR Jaxon Smith-Njigba

JSN was, per usual, the best player on the field for Seattle. He caught a touchdown pass from Sam Darnold late in the first half after beating his man with a double move on a deep ball. The Bears secondary couldn’t guard him, and he was the only thing working for the Seahawks all night.

He needs to get the ball even more than he already does. 

P Michael Dickson

It’s never a good sign when you have to highlight the punter, but Dickson did his job. He boomed a great punt on the opening drive that the Seahawks failed to down inside the 5. The Bears answered with an 80-yard touchdown drive, which made it hurt even more. Dickson then dropped another punt inside the 5 right after that. 

He was excellent and did his part in the field position battle. 

DE DeMarcus Lawrence

Lawrence forced a fumble and recovered it, which gave Seattle a chance late. He didn’t do much outside of that one play, but it was a big one. The Seahawks just failed to capitalize on it.

Losers

The pass rush

It didn’t exist. Bears QB Caleb Williams had to scramble a few times, but nobody from the Seahawks really bothered him all night. Mike Morris recorded the lone sack for Seattle, and Leonard Williams added one quarterback hit. That was about it. 

The Seahawks couldn’t get to Williams, and he carved them up because of it.

S Nick Emmanwori

Emmanwori usually lands on the winners list, which makes this one sting. He gave up an early touchdown to Luther Burden, and he struggled in coverage against Colston Loveland at times. Add a personal foul penalty, and it was a rough night for one of Seattle’s best young players.

RG Grey Zabel

Zabel moved over to right guard after the addition of Quenton Nelson, and Jeffery Simmons bullied him for most of the night. Zabel wasn’t the only one tasked with blocking Simmons. When he had to handle him one-on-one, though, he didn’t stand a chance, and he was a big reason Darnold played under pressure.

RT Abraham Lucas

The right side had issues beyond Zabel. Abraham Lucas allowed two sacks to Montez Sweat. Chicago lined up Simmons and Sweat next to each other a ton, and Seattle never found an answer.

For a unit that has had a tough season, tonight certainly didn’t help the cause.

The run game

There was nothing there. Zach Charbonnet and Jadarian Price are coming back from injuries, and I understand they have to get reacclimated. Still, Seattle never established any sense of a run game to take pressure off its quarterback.

Wide Receivers not named JSN

Cooper Kupp caught a touchdown, and Tory Horton made a couple of grabs, but we all know that’s not enough. These guys don’t make consistent plays in this offense, and opposing defenses know it.

If I were GM John Schneider, I’d be on the phone this week trying to add another wide receiver before the trade deadline Nov. 10. Seattle doesn’t have enough around Smith-Njigba, and it showed on Monday.

OC Brian Fleury

Watch how Bears coach Ben Johnson called this game, and then watch how Fleury called it. It was night and day. Seattle’s offense showed zero creativity, and Fleury never found a rhythm for his quarterback.

He failed to attempt to establish the ground game and outside of Smith-Njigba making plays, he wasn’t able to put anyone in a position to get them going. 

Seattle has work to do

Look, this is the hard truth. The Seahawks aren’t that good of a good team right now.

Tonight they couldn’t rush the passer, they couldn’t protect Darnold, and they couldn’t run the ball. Outside of one star receiver, they can’t consistently move it through the air either. A .500 record feels about right for what we saw Monday night.

Schneider has a little more than a week to do something about it. If Seattle stands pat at the deadline, I don’t see this team making a repeat trip on Super Bowl weekend.