Good teams play in big games and the Chicago Bears have a big game this week. They hit road to play the Super Bowl-champion Seattle Seahawks.
And they’ll do it with a brand new All-Pro defensive tackle! Jeffery Simmons is a Bear!
The Bears are proving themselves to be one of the best offenses in the league with one of the best rising-star quarterbacks.
And their head coach and quarterback face a huge test against one of the league’s best defenses.
Chicago didn’t fare so well in their first defensive
test of the year, against the Minnesota Vikings. However, the weather was a factor in that game, like it or not. Plus, Caleb Williams didn’t finish the game. Excuses, maybe, but also realities.
This matchup has a lot of great storylines and will be a measuring stick for the Bears to see how they compete against the league’s best.
It feels like a game with playoff implications. It feels like a game worthy of the Monday Night Football spotlight. It will be the first game in November for the Bears, too. When teams really start to separate themselves.
Let’s meet the Seahawks.
Seattle Seahawks
SB Nation site: Field Gulls
Record: 4-3, second in the NFC West
Last week: 20-3 win over the Kansas City Chiefs
Game day, time, TV: Monday, 7:15 p.m. CT, ESPN
Spread: Seattle -3.5
Bears all-time record against: 8-12, including 2-0 postseason
Historical meeting: The Bears have never beaten the Seahawks in the month of November.
In the second-ever meeting between the teams, the Seahawks beat the Bears 31-29 in week 10 of 1978.
The Bears fell behind 21-9 with Jim Zorn hitting Steve Largent twice for touchdowns and Sherman Smith rushing for another.
But Chicago made a strong comeback.
Roland Harper scored on a 20-yard pass from Mike Phipps. After another Smith touchdown, Walter Payton scored from 7 yards out, drawing the Bears within six.
The Seahawks drove down the field and tacked on another field goal to go up 31-22.
Phipps threw a pick but Sam McCullum intercepted Zorn right back.
Phipps put together a good drive and Harper scored a 2-yard TD with 40 seconds left.
The Bears managed to recover the onside kick but with 12 seconds left, from Seattle’s 46-yard line, Phipps’ pass was intercepted to end the game.
Last meeting: Who could forget the awful, terrible 6-3 Thursday Night Football game?
Thomas Brown was coaching the Bears. It was a defensive slugfest. Or a total offensive mess. Depends on how you remember it.
The most memorable play didn’t count, as Caleb Williams rolled out and threw an off-platform pass to Rome Odunze four a touchdown. It was called back for offensive holding. (I cannot find a clip online, but I remember it was awesome).
Offense: The Seahawks offense ranks 13th in points and 15th in yards.
Their passing offense is 16th and their rushing offense ranks 17th.
Sam Darnold (62.1 pct. cmp./1,290 yds./8 TD/8 INT) currently leads the league in interceptions, but played a lot better last week.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you likely know about Jaxon Smith-Njigba (58 rec./867 yds./8 TD). Beyond him are AJ Barner (19/180/0), Cooper Kupp (18/199/1), deep threat Rashid Shaheed (16/163/0) and George Holani (12/88/0).
Jadarian Price (28 att./119 yds./0 TD) is injured, but expected to return to practice this week along with Zach Charbonnett (no stats in 2026 yet). In their absence, it’s been Emanuel Wilson (111 att./403 yds./3 TD) and Holani (26/108/1).
Defense: Seattle’s defense comes into Monday night as one the league’s best. They rank fourth in points allowed and first in yards allowed.
Their passing defense ranks first in passing yards and sixth in rushing.
The loaded unit stars Nick Emmanwori (27 tkls/3 TFL/2 sk/1 PD/7 QB hits), DTs Leonard Williams (3 sk/7 TFL/9 QB hits/1 PD), Byron Murphy (3 sk/ 24 tkls/5 TFL/6 QB hits) Derick Hall (3 sk/19 QB hits/3 TFL/1 FF/1 FR) and Ernest Jones (3 sk/68 tkls/3 TFL/2 QB hits/1 INT/3 PD) and Devon Witherspoon (41 tkls/3 PD/3 TFL/1 QB hits)
Other playmakers are Julian Love (2 INT/6 PD/24 tkls/2 TFL), Nehemiah Pritchett (13 tkls/4 PD/2 INT) and Josh Jobe (27 tkls/1 PD/1 INT/1 TFL).
Key matchups: This is a top offense against a top defense. The Bears are going to have to play disciplined football. Take what their given, take shots when they can, use play-action to suck in the LBs.
On defense, stop JSN. That’s no easy task. The Seahawks can find a running game if Price and/or Charbonnett are back. Anyway to get pressure on Sam Darnold is good though; we know what happens when he is pressured.
Key stats
- The Seahawks haven’t allowed a 300-yard passer this season. The Rams are the only team with more than 300 passing yards against Seattle since week 2 of last season.
- Seattle has lost only three times at home going back to the beginning of last season. The 49ers are the only team to beat Seattle at home during this span
- Despite their strong numbers, the Seahawks have allowed opponents to score on 78.6 percent of their trips inside of the red zone.
- The Seahawks’ 13 offensive turnovers on the season rank fourth-most in the league. Their 12 defensive turnovers rank third-most.
- Seattle is allowing a league-low 144.4 passing yards per game and the second-worst passer rating of 72.6. Only the Vikings allow a worse QB rating
Can the Bears hang with a team as good as the Seahawks? How will their offense and QB measure up against Seattle’s defense?
