Seahawks prepare for Mack attack
The last of five Week 2 games pairing winless teams takes place Monday night in Chicago, when the Bears play host to the Seattle Seahawks (8:15 p.m. EDT, TSN via ESPN).
Even though the Seahawks are 22-4-1 in prime time games since 2010 under head coach Pete Carroll, this looks like a tough one for Seattle to win. Linebackers Bobby Wagner and K.J. Wright are out with injuries, as is top wide receiver Doug Baldwin.
As usual, the Seahawks’ hopes rest largely on the scrambling legs and typically accurate passing arm of quarterback Russell Wilson.
He had to run for his life too much in last week’s loss at Denver. It figures he might have to do that again against a Bears pass rush that, in the first half of last Sunday night’s loss at Green Bay, kept devouring Packers quarterbacks Aaron Rodgers and DeShone Kizer.
Newly acquired Khalil Mack led the way in such QB harassment for Chicago. And he’s still getting back into football shape, after missing all of Oakland Raiders training camp in a contract holdout before the team traded him to the Bears two weekends ago.
Until he tired in the second half against the Packers, Mack proved stunningly effective. He became the first NFL defender since he himself turned the trick two years ago in Oakland to record a sack, an interception, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery and a defensive touchdown in one game.
And he did it all before halftime, after only three practices. Wow.
Last week in Denver, Wilson faced perhaps the NFL’s only better edgerushing linebacker, that being Von Miller. Miller sacked Wilson three times. Now comes the Mack attack.
“We expect to play great players every week,” Wilson said. “We’re looking forward to it. We never back down from a challenge. We didn’t expect (Mack) on our schedule early on like this, but he’s a tremendous player, as tough as it gets.
“Watching the film from their Green Bay game, how he was really causing a storm was pretty impressive. You don’t really get to see that many defensive ends making the kinds of plays he’s making, and the things he’s doing. He’s fun to watch and hopefully he won’t do too much in this game.”
Chicago’s offence, meantime, was a buzz-saw until opening the second half with a field-goal drive to take a 20-0 lead. Thereafter, mostly pfft in a Rodgers-orchestrated 24-23 comeback win for the Packers.
QB Mitch Trubisky and the Bears offence had two minutes and change to try to salvage victory, but failed fairly convincingly.
“I wish I would have had a little bit different mindset going into that,” Trubisky said this week, per the Chicago Daily Herald.
“I was thinking, ‘Try to make a big play; win the game right here.’ And it should have been, just (get) completions, get one more completion, one more first down, you just dink it down underneath (and) a missed tackle can turn into a big play.”