The Chicago Bears will try to avoid making history for the second time in three years when they meet the Seattle Seahawks at Soldier Field for “Thursday Night Football.”
The Bears (4-11) enter their penultimate game on a nine-game losing streak and could tie the franchise record of 10 consecutive losses in a single season — a record they set to end the 2022 season.
Meanwhile, the Seahawks (8-7) are trying to keep their long shot playoff chances alive with a victory.
Bears interim head coach Thomas Brown said he expects to play his healthy starters despite the low stakes for his team. As kickoff approaches, here’s our look at the game.
Player in the spotlight
Caleb Williams
Despite a dismal couple of months for the Bears, Williams has had some strong moments, including as he threw for 334 yards and two touchdowns in the loss to the Detroit Lions in Week 16.
That outing upped his season total to 3,271 yards with 19 touchdowns and five interceptions, bringing him just 568 passing yards away from breaking the Bears’ all-time single-season passing record with two games to go. He already has the best rookie season in franchise history and is sixth all-time on the Bears list.
The Lions game also was his ninth straight without throwing an interception, an NFL rookie record, and his 326 pass attempts without an interception is the sixth-longest single-season stretch in NFL history, according to the Bears.
Of course, Williams’ passing stats have been padded a bit as the Bears have started slowly and played from behind in several games.
But Williams said after the Lions game he finds all of the reps valuable. And in the final two games, he wants to eliminate some of the fumbling issues he’s had in recent weeks, and he also wants to “keep being efficient.”
“That doesn’t just mean when I throw the football,” Williams said. “That’s with all the alerts, the time, the play clock, making sure cadence (is right), helping offensive linemen out, whatever the case may be.”
Thursday’s game is another chance to build on his numbers against a Seahawks defense that is middle-of-the-road in most categories, though it does rank 12th in third down and red zone percentages.
Offensive coordinator Chris Beatty also said the Seahawks give a lot of looks and have a lot of great players up front.
“Being able to get us in the right protection is one, and then being able to get some depth from the line of scrimmage is two,” Beatty said. “You can’t let those guys reset the pocket back in his lap. (Williams) understanding where we need to slide and those kinds of things is part of it, and the other part is to get set, get his feet in the ground and be able to get through his progressions quickly and get the ball out of his hand.”
Pressing question
Can a lackluster Bears defense rattle Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith?
In his third season as a full-time starter with the Seahawks, Smith has completed 70.1% of his passes for 3,937 yards. But he also has had his highest interception rate (2.8%) since he revived his career with the Seahawks in 2022.
Smith is tied for second in the NFL with 15 interceptions this season, behind only Atlanta Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins’ 16. Smith threw two interceptions against the Minnesota Vikings in Week 16 and one against the Green Bay Packers in Week 15.
Smith, who has 17 touchdown passes this season, also is tied for the third-most sacks with 45, behind Williams’ 60 and C.J. Stroud’s 47.
Those numbers have to be intriguing for a Bears defense that has been short on both takeaways and sacks lately. The Bears have just two interceptions and nine sacks in the last five games. The downturn has coincided with the Bears giving up 30 or more points four times and more than 400 yards four times in five games.
But Bears defensive coordinator Eric Washington said there’s plenty to be wary of when it comes to Smith.
“Arm talent. Velocity. He can make any throw,” Washington said. “He is really confident in his arm and very strong. He can fit it into tight spaces. He doesn’t want to run but he has enough athletic ability to move around in the pocket and prevent you from getting a clean shot on him.”
Keep an eye on
Seahawks wide receivers Jaxon Smith-Njigba and DK Metcalf
Washington called the Seahawks’ wide receivers a “dynamic pair” with different skill sets that can challenge a defense’s ability to maintain its coverage discipline.
Smith-Njigba has 93 catches for 1,089 and six touchdowns in his second NFL season.
“Just making sure that on some of the deeper routes, on some of the things that challenge the underneath part of your coverage that we maintain discipline with our drops,” Washington said of containing Smith-Njigba. “And then everything starts with our ability to affect the quarterback.”
Washington said the Seahawks will scheme to get the football to Metcalf, who has 60 catches for 897 yards and four touchdowns.
The Bears have had trouble containing some of the talented skill position players they’ve faced in recent weeks. And Washington said Seattle first-year offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb presents many challenges to doing that.
“Number one, there is a lot of movement pre-snap,” Washington said. “So they’re going to challenge your readiness. We’ve talked about that. We have to make sure that as the parts are moving, the final alignment and the final arrangement they have, we need to understand exactly what we’re doing as far as our assignments are concerned.”
Growing connection
Williams and rookie wide receiver Rome Odunze connected on four passes for 77 yards Sunday. It was Odunze’s third-best receiving yards output of the season, but the performance was most notable for the situations in which he came through.
He had a 15-yarder on third-and-8, a 13-yarder on fourth-and-3, and a 30-yarder on fourth-and-1. Those catches helped erase the bad taste from two earlier fumbles.
“Our relationship over the years is going to be vital, I think, for the team,” Williams said. “To continue to grow that is going to be really fun and really vital. He’s going to get better, especially with the guys he has had here this year with him. Rome with DJ (Moore) and Keenan (Allen), two guys who have been doing it for a while. I think it’s helping him being able to watch those guys and how they move and how they work.”
Odunze said Monday he wasn’t yet ready to evaluate his rookie season, in which he has 51 catches for 701 yards and three touchdowns. But he agreed his connection with Williams has been building from the start.
“You feel that confidence (from him), and you feed off of that from one another,” Odunze said. “I think that we do that well, but you’ve got to go out there and prove it on the field, and we have to continue to do that. Kind of like Davante Adams and Aaron Rodgers, they have to go out and prove that every single Sunday.”
Injury report
The Bears will be without both starting left tackle Braxton Jones and left guard Teven Jenkins on Thursday.
Jones went on injured reserve because he is expected to need surgery on his broken ankle. Jenkins was ruled out Wednesday with a calf injury.
Running back Travis Homer (hamstring), safety Elijah Hicks (ankle/foot) and defensive back Tarvarius Moore (knee) also were ruled out.
Defensive tackle Gervon Dexter (knee), guard/center Doug Kramer (shoulder) and linebacker Amen Ogbongbemiga (hip) are listed as questionable after being limited during the week.
For the Seahawks, tight end Brady Russell (foot), running back Kenneth Walker (ankle) and safety K’Von Wallace (ankle) were ruled out.
Predictions
Brad Biggs (10-5)
The Seahawks remain alive in the playoff hunt, a game behind the Rams with a Week 18 finale at Los Angeles, so this is a must-win game for them after squandering a late lead against the Vikings last Sunday. The Bears have to piece together the left side of the offensive line, replacing tackle Braxton Jones and guard Teven Jenkins. The Seahawks have not run the ball particularly well but they are effective throwing it and the Bears have given up too many big plays of late. The Bears rank 31st in yards per attempt allowed at 7.42 and have had more than two sacks only once in the last three games.
Seahawks 24, Bears 17
Colleen Kane (11-4)
The Seahawks are an unexceptional team, and the Bears get them at Soldier Field on a short practice week the day after Christmas. So — again — there could be an opportunity for the Bears to pull an upset. But I’ve thought that a few times during the Bears’ nine-game losing streak, and they just keep finding ways to disappoint. Maybe then this last home game at least won’t be quite as ugly as the recent blowout losses? For everyone still left watching this team, the real draw is seeing Caleb Williams continue his growth, and there should be an opportunity for more of that this week, if he figured out how to conquer the quick turnaround.
Seahawks 24, Bears 23
Dan Wiederer (10-5)
The Seahawks are the quintessential middle-tier team in the NFL. Not great at much. Not horrible. Competitive most weeks. In most scenarios, this would be a good late-season measuring stick game. And the Seahawks crossing two time zones for a Thursday night game should be advantageous for the Bears. But the Bears also haven’t put up much of a fight against anyone in a long while. And the home finale will be another dud.
Seahawks 26, Bears 17
