Four days after arriving from Tennessee in a trade, Jeffery Simmons looked as if he had been wearing navy and orange for years. The defensive lineman finished his Chicago debut with six tackles, including a sack and two stops behind the line, plus one pass knocked away, and the Bears’ front spent the night on top of Sam Darnold as Chicago won 34-17 in Seattle to move to 6-2.
The numbers tell how lopsided it was for long stretches. The defending champions managed just 252 yards, converted one of 11 third downs and went three-and-out five times. Darnold hit only half of his 34 throws, went down three times under pressure and gave the ball away once through the air. Jaxon Smith-Njigba was Seattle’s one reliable weapon, with 118 receiving yards and a touchdown on six catches.
Still, the Seahawks found a way back in. A Colston Loveland fumble set up a Darnold touchdown pass to Cooper Kupp, and a two-point conversion trimmed the gap to 20-17 midway through the fourth quarter. The turning point came from an unlikely source: a Bears delay-of-game penalty wiped out what would have been a Seattle stop on third down. Given a second chance, Caleb Williams tossed a lateral out to Kalif Raymond, who sprinted all the way inside the Seattle 10, and D’Andre Swift finished the drive a play later. Moments later Austin Booker tipped a Darnold throw into the arms of James Lynch, and Swift punched in his third touchdown of the night.
Chicago’s quarterback completed 24 throws in 34 attempts, good for 247 yards and one touchdown. Seattle’s own mistakes, including three unnecessary roughness flags, a missed extra point and a blocked field goal, did not help.
Seattle, now at .500 with four wins and four defeats, has dropped four games since a perfect start through two weeks. Next up for Chicago is Tampa Bay on Sunday.
