This is my third official breakdown of the Seahawks bad offensive play in another loss due to being terrible on all 3 phases of the game but I will stick to the offense once again because it was looking very lethargic in this game for many reasons.
Overall it's not too surprising the offense struggled. They moved a struggling 2nd year guard to a new position, were missing their LT, plugged in a new LG 3 days after trading for him, returned 2 RB's from injury who haven't played in months, and were missing their #2 WR. Add all that on top of the fact that Sam and Fleury are struggling and you have the perfect recipe for a bad game.
My process: pause the film pre-snap, check the down, distance, situation, where you're at on the field, what the personnel and formation is for both teams, and then what happens immediately post-snap.
TLDR I think it's time for a change at the OC position. Perhaps Fleury is willing to step down as playcaller and promote Peetz and let Fleury still do all the other OC duties. The playbook and playcalling just need an overhaul. They don't match what this team needs to do to stay on schedule every play. This is also a hot take but Bradford is playing lights out this season and Zabel is struggling heavily so why not play Bradford over Zabel at RG? If the plan is to win then playing the best player at this moment would be ideal.
Bad Plays Summary: 1 sack on Zabel, 1 sack on Abe, 1 pick on Darnold, 3.5 almost picks to Darnold, 0.5 almost picks to Fleury, 1.5 almost sacks to Darnold, 0.5 almost sacks to Fleury.
Almost Pick #1 (Darnold & Fleury): 3rd & 5. 1 TE, 3 WRs, 1 RB - Darnold in shotgun.
On this play Bears have 4 DL, 2 LB's lined up at the line in the A gap, 2 CB's playing press on Horton & JSN, 1 CB playing off man on Kupp, 1 safety deep.
On snap the 2 LB's drop out of the A gap into zone. The soft corner backs up to 10 yards away from Kupp. The other corners press their receivers. Charbs immediately runs to the flat on the short side (left). The Oline holds their blocks against 4 rushers for over 3 seconds. Darnold throws into very tight coverage on Horton who gets destroyed by the safety, nearly killing him.
Ideally Sam should've checked to a WR screen to Kupp or moved him in motion inside of JSN and moved JSN outside. The soft corner coverage here guaranteed a 5+ yard gain and a missed tackle is possibly a TD.
Looking at it from Sam's POV, I chalk this up to Sam and Fleury. The play call was bad based on the coverage. Running 2 receivers on slants to roughly the same part of the field with a safety over the top and the LB's backing off their rush into middle zone basically cutoff half your passing options (Sam took that throw anyway). Also the decision making by Sam was bad because he threw into heavy coverage that was almost picked and got his receiver destroyed.
Sack #1 (Zabel): 1st & 10. 2 TE, 2 WR, 1 RB - Darnold in shotgun.
On this play Bears have 5 DL, 2 CB in press man, 2 LB middle of the field, and 2 deep safeties.
On snap the Bears rush 4. Price immediately runs left into the flat and the DE follows him. The TE stays blocking on the DE instead of leaking out so the DE essentially covered 2 players himself. Zabel loses his block within 2 seconds and at this moment every receiver was covered. However, as Zabel loses his block Sam is staring down JSN who is even with his man. Sam chooses to try to shake the sack instead of throwing it immediately.
This actually reminds me of the big play to JSN down at the 2 in the Chiefs game. On that play Sam threw it immediately as pressure was about to hit him. The same thing happened here but he didn't trust the throw and took the sack instead.
I chalk this up to Zabel. He lost on his block immediately and even though Sam could've thrown the ball immediately upon receiving it, it basically would've been a 50/50 ball.
Almost Sack #1 (Darnold & Fleury): 3rd & 8. 1 TE, 3 WR, 1 RB - Darnold in shotgun.
On this play Bears have 7 defenders on the LoS, 2 CB in off man, 2 deep safeties.
On snap Charbs is already running to the flat on the left and is wide open if this was a screen but Sam isn't looking that way and the WR on that side takes off immediately. The Bears drop 3 men off the line into zone. This also makes the 2 WR wide open on the right due to the corners playing soft and LB having to hustle back from the line. Again Sam doesn't take the immediate throws and the WRs are sprinting downfield. JSN stops on his route immediately at 3 yards, he's open and Sam pump fakes him. Sam decides nobody is open for the first down and decides to sprint for the first down himself, only he's not fast. Upon sliding short of the first down he is absolutely destroyed by a Bears defender. This was a late hit, this was helmet to helmet, and the refs didn't call it. The refs were teaching Sam a lesson not to scramble here I guess.
Overall given 7 guys on the LoS and all defenders playing soft coverage, Sam's pre-snap read should've been to shift to a screen play to either Charbs on the left who had a lead blocker and only 1 man to beat to get to the first down or to the right to JSN with 1 WR there to block for him and 2 players to beat for the first down.
I chalk this up to Sam & Fleury for bad decision making and just a bad play design. 3rd and 8 but only 1 receiver ran far enough to get to first down. Sam thinking he can run 8 yards in traffic without getting hit, and Sam not checking the call at the line are equally bad as the play design.
Almost Sack #2 (Darnold): 3rd & 8. 1 TE, 3 WR, 1 RB - Darnold in shotgun.
On this play Bears have 5 DL, 3 CB in press man, 1 LB middle of the field, and 2 deep safeties.
On snap Bears rush 4 and drop the other LB into coverage. All 3 corners press the receivers. RB stays in to block. 3 seconds after the snap Nelson loses on his block and Sundell takes his guy to the ground next to Sam. Sam panics, awkwardly and non-athletically tries to hurdle over Sundell, then realizes he can't run for the first down and throws it as he gets hit and it falls short of an open JSN.
On this play Sam had 2 wide open guys short of the first down with no defenders around them so they had a chance to break a tackle and make something happen. Instead Sam held the ball and decided to try and scramble awkwardly.
I chalk this up to Darnold. He should've hit one of his underneath players immediately who were wide open and let them make a play. He was so good at doing this in the Chiefs game but not in the Bears game.
Almost Pick #2 (Darnold): 3rd & 5. 1 TE, 3 WR, 1 RB - Darnold in shotgun.
On this play Bears have 6 DL, 3 CB in soft man, and 2 deep safeties.
On snap the Bears only rush 4 and drop 2 DL into coverage. 1 corner runs deep to play cover 3 deep. RB stays in to block initially before leaking out to the flat, and the receivers look slow off the snap. Sam has a very clean pocket for 3 seconds and has several open receivers immediately and the RB in the flat open. Sam has very happy feet on this play and is way off balance on the throw because of it. This caused his throw to sail and miss the receiver and almost get picked off.
I chalk this up to Darnold. Sam should've calmed down. He had no reason for happy feet in a clean pocket and he should've taken any of his first couple reads because every receiver was open if he threw in rhythm. Kupp and JSN were wide open for first down.
Sack #2 (OL): 2nd & 10. 1 TE, 2 WR, 2 RB - Darnold in shotgun.
On this play Bears have 5 DL, 1 CB in press man, 1 CB in off man, 2 LB in zone, and 2 deep safeties.
On snap the Bears rush 5. 1 RB runs to the flat and the other stays in for protection. JSN pulls a double team and 1 LB blitzes late when he sees his RB stays in to block. Darnold is staring down JSN and Kupp immediately comes open underneath and Sam had the throw but didn't take it. Abe loses immediately on his block and Zabel realizes it too late to help him.
Something odd happened with the OL because it looked like Abe thought he had help inside and Zabel didn't help him but instead didn't block anyone. This allowed a free inside rush against Abe between him and Zabel. Kupp was wide open early though so if Sam was looking his way he had a quick option. Instead he takes the sack.
I chalk this up to the OL, although it could just be Abe depending upon the protection scheme.
Sack #3 (Darnold): 1st & 10. 2 TE, 2 WR, 1 RB - Darnold under center.
On this play Bears have 5 DL, 1 CB in press man, 1 CB in off man, 2 LB in zone, and 2 deep safeties.
On snap the Bears rush 5 on a LB blitz and the RB stays in for PA. The Bears fell for the PA and upon turning around something was off on the timing of the PA fake because Darnold took way too long to turn around as he kept drifting back with the ball before he turns to throw. At this point Charbs misses his block on the blitzing LB and Sam sees it.
Instead of throwing it to a wide open JSN for a short gain or throwing it away, Sam decides to scramble. He is immediately sacked.
I chalk this up to Darnold. The PA fake worked but he took too long to turn to throw and then panic scrambled when Charbs missed the blitzer instead of simply throwing it to JSN or throwing it away.
Pick #1 (Darnold): 3rd & 7. 1 TE, 3 WR, 1 RB - Darnold in shotgun.
On this play Bears have 7 DL, 3 CB in off zone, 1 deep safety.
On snap Bears only rush 4 and drop 3 DL back into zone. RB and TE run routes when they realize Bears aren't blitzing and are both open underneath initially. The OL holds blocks for 2 seconds before Sam panics in a clean pocket and starts to run for some reason. He then makes an awkward throw across his body back towards the middle of the field on the run that is batted by a DL and intercepted.
Sam had no reason to panic here. He had a clean pocket and all OL were holding up on their blocks. 2 of the Bears were pancaked by Zabel and Sundell while Jones and Nelson held their guys near the LoS. Even if he was panicked he had TE and RB open initially that he didn't take and instead ran himself into a near sack and unfortunately a pick.
I chalk this up to Darnold. This was just him seeing ghosts again.
Almost Pick #3 (Darnold): 3rd & 4. 1 TE, 3 WR, 1 RB - Darnold in shotgun.
On this play Bears have 6 DL, 3 CB in press man, and 2 deep safeties.
On snap Bears rush 5. Sam is immediately staring left where Horton has a 1v1 inside the 10 and Sam chooses not to take the 50/50 ball there (if it was JSN or Shaheed maybe he does?). Holani completely whiffs on the blitzer and Sam has pressure in his face. Sam scrambles to his right and throws another awkward off balance throw that's tipped and almost picked again.
I chalk this up to Darnold. You're inside the 10 and the Bears are showing blitz. You have an obvious 1v1 50/50 play on the outside. You know you're taking a hot route. Just toss a 50/50 ball or check to a different play when you see the blitz.
Almost Pick #4 (Darnold): 4th & 4. 1 TE, 3 WR, 1 RB - Darnold in shotgun.
On this play Bears have 6 DL, 3 CB in press man, and 2 deep safeties. Both teams in same pre-snap alignment as the previous almost pick play.
On snap Bears only rush 4 and drop the DE's into zone. Sam immediately has a 1v1 to the left again, with a chance at a 50/50 ball. JSN draws triple coverage on the right. Barner immediately comes open over the middle for a first down but Sam doesn't even look there. Sam looks keyed in on Kupp who draws double coverage in the slot.
I chalk this up to Darnold. This is a near pick and turnover on downs. This play didn't matter because it was already a 3 score game with 2 minutes left but Sam had a 50/50 ball for a touchdown 2 plays in a row inside the 10 and refused to take it. He also had his TE open over the middle for a first down that the Bears were gifting him and he refused to take it.
