Hawks, Bears are searching for answers
One franchise brought you Steve Largent, the other boasts Dick Butkus.
The Seahawks won the NFC championship in 2005 with an offense that scored more points than anyone else in the league. The Bears reached the Super Bowl last season when they allowed the fewest points in the NFC.
Two teams with two very different signatures, but their John Hancocks are barely recognizable this season.
The Bears are a middle-of-the-pack defense in the bottom quarter of the league in rushing yards allowed and interceptions. The Seahawks offense has been booed at home this season and been forced to inflate the offense in midseason by going to the air more in an effort to find consistency.
Two teams with two very different identities, each struggling to regain their footing in time for the playoffs.
“Every team has their own battles to fight, searching for answers,” Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren said.
The search will continue today, the Seahawks seeking to avoid falling to .500 while the Bears are playing just to reach that level. This is hardly what the league’s schedule-makers planned when they slated this game as a Sunday night rematch of the two teams that played into overtime in the playoffs last season. That’s why the league yanked it back to a 1:15 p.m. start earlier this month.
“You always want to play on prime time because they put the best matchups there,” said Bears coach Lovie Smith. “But right now we haven’t held up our end of the deal this year.”
The Bears allowed more than 30 points in three of their nine games this season. They allowed more than 30 points in only three games the previous two seasons combined. Three players rushed for 100 yards or more against Chicago this season, including 224 yards by Minnesota rookie Adrian Peterson.
The Seahawks led the league in scoring two years ago. They’re a mediocre 13th this season; one of their most effective offensive weapons has been kick returner Nate Burleson and only two teams in the NFL average fewer yards per carry than Seattle. The offense that has been this team’s strength is suddenly a question mark.
“You just try and scramble around and fix it and figure out why,” Holmgren said. “Most of the time, it’s kind of simple. It’s not real complex.”
Shaun Alexander is 30, sidelined by the kind of injuries he always seemed to avoid, and he’s expected to miss his second consecutive game because of a sprained knee. And then there’s that left guard who took off for Minnesota, Steve Hutchinson, taking his rebarred toughness with him.
Personnel is part of the explanation in Chicago, too. Defensive tackle Tommie Harris isn’t completely healthy, and he’s questionable for today’s game, defensive tackle Tank Johnson was cut loose in the offseason and safety Mike Brown got hurt this season. Again.
But linebacker Brian Urlacher said the Bears players haven’t changed nearly as much as the performance.
“We’re the same team, for the most part,” Urlacher said. “We have lost a couple guys, but it’s the same team not playing as well.”
That starts with the turnovers. The Bears intercepted 24 passes each of the past two seasons. They have picked off six passes so far this season, tied for second-fewest in the league.
The Bears still have one of the league’s best linebacking groups, with Urlacher excellent in coverage and Lance Briggs stiff against the run. Their corners remain well covered with Nathan Vasher and Charles Tillman.
And the defense is showing signs of improvement as the Bears haven’t allowed 20 points in any of the past three games. Now they face an offense that spread itself out last week and is expected to have its full complement of wide receivers this weekend for the first time since the season opener.
The matchup is not the must-see TV the schedule-makers anticipated, which is why the Buffalo Bills and New England Patriots are playing in prime time on NBC. Instead, the Seahawks and Bears will play in a game seasoned with some urgency on both sides as two teams seek to rediscover the formula that made each a conference power.
“You have to start over each year,” Smith said. “Each team takes on a different personality.”
Nine games into the season, these two teams are still trying to establish that identity.
Danny O’Neil: 206-464-2364 or doneil@seattletimes.com