SEATTLE — It’s not supposed to be like this at Lumen Field, the home stadium the Seattle Seahawks so badly want to protect.
In the first year of the Mike Macdonald era, the Seahawks want to be defined by a physical and explosive style of football that no one else wants to play while being supported by home fans who assist in making Lumen a place where teams struggle to function.
But what unfolded against the Green Bay Packers on “Sunday Night Football” was evidence that the Seahawks are further away from that goal than they thought. The lower bowl on the west side of the stadium was lined with Packers fans who had much more to cheer about and whose “Go Pack Go” chants could be heard throughout the night, including the moments before backup quarterback Sam Howell threw a fourth-quarter interception that ended Seattle’s comeback hopes in a 30-13 loss.
“At the end of the day, we can’t control what fans do with their tickets,” said 10-year veteran Tyler Lockett, who felt there were more visiting fans than usual Sunday night. “If we just do our part and keep winning, more fans won’t be trying to sell their tickets.”
My @Seahawks fan sister-in-law: I am shocked by how many @packers fans are here… chunks of cheese everywhere. #GoPackGo pic.twitter.com/5aue0y0FOR
— SUSAN KIM (@SusanKim4) December 16, 2024
This was Seattle’s fifth loss at home — the second in prime time — and it snapped a four-game win streak. The Seahawks dropped to 8-6 and fell from third in the NFC to eighth, and second in the NFC West behind the Rams (8-6).
This game against a potential playoff foe was somewhat of a litmus test for the Seahawks, who handled business coming out of the bye week with wins over the Cardinals (twice), 49ers and Jets. They also knew the performance against the Packers would be a chance to prove they’re a contender. They can still prove that over their next three games against the Vikings, Bears and Rams, but being dominated from start to finish by Green Bay is nonetheless frustrating — and a bit of a reality check.
“It was a challenge for us that we wanted to face against a good team like this to show we could beat a good team,” defensive tackle Leonard Williams said. “Guys are disappointed about that, but at the end of the day I feel like we have a lot to fight for.”
Not only did Seattle lose this game and see its odds of making the playoffs and winning the division fall to 35 and 34 percent, respectively, according to The Athletic’s projection model, but the team may have lost starting quarterback Geno Smith. He suffered a knee injury midway through the third quarter on a hit by linebacker Edgerrin Cooper. Smith was evaluated on the sideline and in the locker room and eventually jogged back onto the sideline late in the third quarter but was unable to return and watched the rest of the game with a wrap on his right knee.
“We’ll do all the tests tomorrow and figure it out as we go,” Macdonald said of Smith’s knee. “Right now, structurally it looks like it’s OK.”
Smith was not made available to the media after the game. After the hit, Cooper recalled Smith claiming that he dove at the quarterback’s ankles. Cooper felt the hit was clean.
“I was just trying to go get him down,” Cooper said. “That was it, simple as that.”
The Seahawks trailed 20-3 at the time of Smith’s injury. He completed 15 of 19 passes for 149 yards with no touchdowns and a red zone interception in the second quarter. Howell struggled in eight series of relief duty and completed 5 of 14 passes for just 24 yards. He led a scoring drive in the fourth quarter that cut the deficit to 23-13 with 11:16 remaining, but when Seattle regained possession down by the same score with 5:50 left, Howell was sacked on first down, which prompted another set of “Go Pack Go!” chants from the visiting fans.
Howell’s next pass was intercepted by Cooper.
Macdonald said Howell’s performance in his first real action of the season “wasn’t good enough to win.” Howell was sacked four times on 19 dropbacks (Smith was sacked three times). Howell threw just one pass that produced a first down.
Seattle quarterback Sam Howell is sacked during the third quarter against Green Bay. (Joe Nicholson / Imagn Images)
“I know he’s disappointed,” Macdonald said of Howell. “Just didn’t feel like we were getting the ball out on time, and then it wasn’t complemented with our pass protection. I know we gave up a bunch of sacks, and they did a good job, too. They covered the routes and rushed the passer, and it was a complementary game on their end.”
The way Howell performed behind Seattle’s offensive line — which lost center Olu Oluwatimi to a leg injury in the first half — doesn’t bode well for the team’s hopes of getting back into the playoff picture if Smith must miss time. But the way the Seahawks played in the first half is cause for concern even if Smith is back under center against Minnesota next Sunday.
The Packers (10-4) marched down the field with ease on their opening possession and scored a 1-yard run by Josh Jacobs. The Seahawks responded by punting after four plays, the last of which was a sack on third-and-4. Green Bay went 80 yards on its ensuing possession and found the end zone on a 13-yard pass from Jordan Love to Romeo Doubs, who powered through cornerback Riq Woolen and safety Julian Love to give the Packers a 14-0 lead in the first quarter.
“They were moving really fast, getting on the ball really fast,” Williams said. “They had a scripted drive and that’s why they chose to receive the ball, in my opinion, because they knew how they wanted to attack us to open up the game. I feel like we just didn’t respond well. In the second half, we did a lot better.”
Indeed, Seattle forced three punts, recovered a fumble and got a fourth-down stop in the second half while the game was still within reach. Green Bay scored on only two of its eight second-half possessions, but a field goal and Love’s 22-yard touchdown pass to Doubs late in the fourth quarter were all the Packers needed because of how dominant they were in the first half.
“We just got a feel for what they were doing on offense (in the second half),” said Williams, who had a tackle for loss on third down and a tackle for no gain on fourth down in the second half. “We stopped panicking, calmed down a little bit and just started going back to what we knew.”
Seattle’s offense, on the other hand, never found a rhythm. The second drive ended with a field goal because Smith was sacked on third-and-2 (Abe Lucas was beaten by Rashan Gary).
The next drive ended with Smith being intercepted trying to find tight end Noah Fant in the back end of the end zone (Smith now leads the league with four red zone interceptions).
The first drive of the third quarter stalled because of a sack given up by rookie guard Sataoa Laumea and a penalty for an ineligible player downfield.
Smith got hurt on the third drive of the quarter and Howell came in and lost 2 yards across two plays before a successful field goal.
“We sucked,” said rookie center Jalen Sundell, who replaced Oluwatimi in the first half. “We’ve got to play better. We’ve got to be better at pass protection. I snapped the ball early twice; I’ve got to be better.”
Seattle picked a bad time to regress. The offense looked out of whack, the defense started slow, missed tackles, gave up explosive plays and committed multiple costly pass interference penalties. Macdonald said he was outcoached and could have called a better game. Zach Charbonnet was limited to just eight carries. The offensive line lost the battle up front.
Everything Seattle had done to win four straight went out of the window in a critical game.
On Friday, Macdonald said this game was supposed to be about the Seahawks “becoming who we want to become as a team,” and when asked to detail that identity he referred to the mural on the wall beside the locker room that reads, “A style nobody wants to play.”
This game was supposed to feature Macdonald’s Seahawks showcasing that identity to their fans and the rest of the football world in prime time. They instead showcased that they’re still a team searching for an identity, led by a head coach who is still trying to capture the Lumen Field magic from the previous era that made this place so tough to play in for the better part of the last decade.
“It sucks,” left guard Laken Tomlinson said. “It stings, coming out and losing a game like this. But we’re going to get back to work tomorrow. We’re going to be critical of the film and we’re going to get ready for Minnesota.”
(Top photo of Geno Smith being sacked in the first quarter by Edgerrin Cooper: Joe Nicholson / Imagn Images)
