Fast Facts: Jimmy Graham’s late TD leads Bears past Seahawks 25-24
Dec 26, 2021, 4:17 PM | Updated: 5:25 pm
For 57 minutes of clock time on Sunday, the Seattle Seahawks were the better team in their meeting with the Chicago Bears at snowy Lumen Field.
Not for the last three, though.
Bears 25, Seahawks 24: Snow game photo gallery | Box score
Chicago scored 11 unanswered points in the fourth quarter, Jason Myers missed a 39-yard field goal after Russell Wilson took a 13-yard loss on a sack late, and the Bears came back to beat Seattle 25-24.
To perhaps add insult to the injury of the loss, former Seahawks tight end Jimmy Graham hauled in a 15-yard touchdown with 1:01 left to cut Seattle’s lead to 24-23.
FOLES TO GRAHAM. #DaBears
📺: #CHIvsSEA on FOX
📱: NFL app pic.twitter.com/CGcc2XxqhK— NFL (@NFL) December 26, 2021
The Bears then opted to go for two and the win (probably a good call in the frigid weather), and quarterback Nick Foles connected with Damiere Byrd on the two-point conversion pass attempt to give Chicago the advantage.
Seattle couldn’t reach midfield on its final drive as it suffered a heartbreaking loss to fall to 5-10. The Bears improved to 5-10 with the win.
Bears take the lead with the two-point conversion!
1:01 left.
📺: #CHIvsSEA on FOX
📱: NFL app pic.twitter.com/OCPQe9112T— NFL (@NFL) December 26, 2021
Here are the fast facts from Sunday’s Seahawks loss.
How did Hawks lose to Bears? Third down, Wilson plays loom large
Scoring plays and highlights
• First half
In a game with such wintry conditions, you wouldn’t expect many successful high-flying plays through the air. Well, the Seahawks didn’t let that stop them in the first quarter.
Seattle jumped out to a 7-0 lead as quarterback Russell Wilson connected with wide receiver DK Metcalf on a deep ball for a 41-yard touchdown on the Seahawks’ second drive of the game.
RUSS TO DK 🔥 41-yard score! #Seahawks
📺: #CHIvsSEA on FOX
📱: NFL app pic.twitter.com/JKsQuhRan7— NFL (@NFL) December 26, 2021
That was certainly good news for the Seahawks as the lack of completions by Wilson to Metcalf was a cause for concern earlier this week.
Also good news for Seattle was the play of running back Rashaad Penny, who had a run of 25 yards (followed immediately by a 5-yard rush) to help set up Metcalf’s TD. Penny was just getting started, as he ended the game with 135 rushing yards.
The Bears nearly had an answer on their next possession, as they put together a long drive of 15 plays, 71 yards and 8:27 of game time. They were aided by a defensive pass interference call on Seahawks cornerback Ugo Amadi, who made contact on Bears receiver Darnell Mooney because the pass from Nick Foles was underthrown and Mooney slowed down while being covered by Amadi. That took Chicago from the Seattle 41 to the 15, but the Seahawks stood tall and made four straight stops from the 4 or closer – including on fourth-and-goal – to get the ball back on a turnover on downs.
That resulted in Seattle being pinned close to its own end zone, though, and after going three and out, punter Michael Dickson had a rare bad punt with Chicago returner Dazz Newsome returning the ball 28 yards from the Seahawks 41 to 15. That allowed the Bears to tie the game just five plays later on a 1-yard David Montgomery touchdown rush.
The Hawks weren’t about to stay in a tie, though.
Seattle responded with its longest drive of the half, eating up 5:28 of the clock on a 12-play, 74-yard series. Penny capped off the efficient, balanced drive with a 3-yard TD run with just under five minutes left to halftime to put the Hawks ahead 14-7.
A big block from @lightningstrk12 allows @pennyhendrixx to coast into the end zone for six. 🙌
📺 #CHIvsSEA on FOX pic.twitter.com/Z4mQ0zGVmq
— Seattle Seahawks (@Seahawks) December 26, 2021
The Seahawks also put together a nice two-minute drill just before the halftime to set up a 36-yard Jason Myers field goal, giving them a 17-7 advantage at the break.
• Second half
It took some time in the third quarter, but the Bears were able to cut the Seahawks’ lead down to one score.
While a Darrell Taylor tackle for loss and Rasheem Green sack helped force the Bears to punt away on the opening drive of the half, Seattle had to punt right back after a three-and-out. That’s when Chicago got its offense moving in the right direction again, as the Bears marched 82 yards down the field on 10 plays (with 5:27 coming off the clock). Montgomery had five runs plus a 16-yard catch to get Chicago in the red zone, where it immediately scored on a 20-yard Khalil Herbert run to make it a 17-14 game.
Khalil Herbert goes untouched into the end zone! #DaBears
📺: #CHIvsSEA on FOX
📱: NFL app pic.twitter.com/xp41gSkjFi— NFL (@NFL) December 26, 2021
As was the case in the first half, though, the Seahawks wasted no time coming up with an answer to a Bears score.
A 32-yard Penny run put Seattle in Chicago territory on the second play of its next possession, and two plays after that, Wilson found tight end Gerald Everett for a 24-yard TD pass.
Russell Wilson to Gerald Everett puts the @Seahawks up by 10! #Seahawks
📺: #CHIvsSEA on FOX
📱: NFL app pic.twitter.com/5iiwMYu4F9— NFL (@NFL) December 26, 2021
Chicago was able to get the Seahawks’ lead back down to one score, grinding out a 13-play, 58-yard drive for a 35-yard Cairo Santos field goal to make it 24-17 early in the fourth quarter, which turned out to be big.
Seattle nearly got those points back, with a 31-yard Penny run taking him over 100 rushing yards for the second time in the last three weeks and putting the Hawks in field goal position.
Rashaad Penny running wild in the snow. #Seahawks @pennyhendrixx
📺: #CHIvsSEA on FOX
📱: NFL app pic.twitter.com/F6fJXtnUMO— NFL (@NFL) December 26, 2021
Wilson lost 13 yards on a sack on third-and-four from the Bears 8, however, and Myers missed a field goal attempt from 39 yards, giving the ball back to Chicago in a one-possession game.
Which turned out to be a big problem.
With the score still 24-17 in the final moments, the Bears were able to get to the red zone, where Foles found Jimmy Graham for a 15-yard TD pass. Foles then hit Damiere Byrd for a two-point conversion, suddenly giving Chicago its first lead of the game at the most important possible time.
The Seahawks turned the ball over on downs on their final chance to come back.
Key stats
Chicago’s strong fourth quarter allowed it to close the gap in total yardage, which Seattle won 331-317. The Seahawks had 161 yards passing and 170 on the ground, while the Bears had 229 passing and 88 rushing.
Time of possession was firmly in Chicago’s favor, 38:25 to 21:25. And while Chicago had eight penalties to Seattle’s seven, the Seahawks coughed up more yardage (88 to Chicago’s 73).
Russell Wilson had a generally efficient day at QB for Seattle, throwing 16 of 27 for 181 yards, two touchdown and no interceptions. But while he took only two sacks, the last one was certainly costly.
Rashaad Penny had a career day running the ball with 135 yards and a touchdown on 17 carries.
Gerald Everett led the Hawks with 68 yards on four receptions, including a touchdown. DK Metcalf was quiet after his 41-yard score in the first quarter with only one more catch the rest of the day. Tyler Lockett was held to 30 yards on three receptions in his return after missing Tuesday’s loss to the Rams on the reserve/COVID-19 list.
Bobby Wagner made 12 tackles, as the NFL leader in the stat also broke his own franchise record for most tackles in a single season on Sunday.
Carlos Dunlap had two sacks, giving him five this week alone (combined with three on Tuesday). Rasheem Green also had two sacks.
Bears QB Nick Foles threw 24 of 35 for 250 yards, a touchdown and no interceptions.
David Montgomery had 45 yards and a touchdown on 21 carries, plus seven receptions for 61 yards, leading Chicago in all of those categories.
Jimmy Graham was relatively quiet until his late TD catch with two receptions for 30 yards.
Robert Quinn had a sack for the Bears.
Up next for the Seahawks
Seattle will host a struggling NFC North opponent for the second time in as many weeks when the 2-12 -1 Detroit Lions come to Lumen Field for a 1:25 p.m. game next Sunday. Coverage of the game will begin on 710 ESPN Seattle and KIRO Radio 97.3 FM with the pregame show at 10 a.m.
Based on the 10-day forecast in Seattle from Weather.com, snow could again be present for the Jan. 2 game, though with a predicted low of 34 degrees it wouldn’t be cold enough to stick and would be more like rainy conditions.
Seahawks Instant Reaction: 710 ESPN Seattle on last-minute loss to Bears
