Seahawks’ defense assumes blame for late collapse vs. Bengals

The fact that the Seahawks' defense gave up 17 consecutive points in the final period of Sunday's loss to the Bengals was inexplicable as it was concerning.

BY DANNY O

Oct 11, 2015, 3:38 PM Updated: Oct 12, 2015, 10:52 am

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Cincinnati quarterback Andy Dalton rushed for a touchdown in a 17-point fourth quarter for the Bengals. (AP)

(AP)

CINCINNATI – There was no defense for Seattle’s fourth-quarter performance.

Or at least not nearly enough of it.

“The offense gave us, what, 24-7?” asked Bruce Irvin. “Come on, man, we’ve got to finish that. That’s on the defense.”

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And of all the problems the Seahawks endured from the headache-inducing inability to convert third downs to the spotty punt coverage, it was the fact that Seattle’s defense gave up 17 consecutive points in the final period that was as inexplicable as it was concerning.

“It’s on us,” Irvin said.

Not entirely. There was enough blame to go around for an offense that failed to gain a single first down in the final period to a punt coverage unit that gave up a 35-yard return to Adam Jones to jumpstart Cincinnati’s first scoring drive of the period.

But Seattle’s defense has been the bedrock for this team’s identity, and right now that identity is facing a crisis when it comes to closing out games. Seattle has held a fourth-quarter lead in each of the three games it has lost this season. Sunday’s loss in Cincinnati was simply the latest. And the largest.

“We just can’t finish,” Irvin said, “and that’s going to the Super Bowl. To Green Bay.

“We’ve got to finish.”

This is the challenge that Seattle had to figure out in 2012 when Russell Wilson was a rookie and the Seahawks lost fourth-quarter leads in Arizona, Detroit and Miami. But that was a young team that was finding its identity.

These Seahawks are more experienced and yet they’ve seemed to lose the finishing touch that coach Pete Carroll emphasizes so very much.

“That’s why I’m baffled a little bit by it,” Carroll confessed. “Because we’re clear about this, and we know what we’re trying to get done and our language and all of that. What’s startling is that it’s not happening. Because we have had to be terrific in this mode for years to do what we’ve done. There’s three games here that are all basically the same storyline at the end.

“We can fix that and we can change the season around and that’s what we plan to do.”

In the first three quarters, Cincinnati gained 216 yards and scored only once on its eight possessions. In the fourth quarter and overtime, the Bengals gained 203 yards and scored four of the five times they had the ball.

Cincinnati’s 17 fourth-quarter points matched the second-most ever scored in the final period against the Seahawks since Carroll became coach. The Chiefs scored 21 points in the final period of a blowout victory in Seattle in 2010.

This will be a week full of theories as to why Seattle was unable to hold onto another late lead, whether it was the short week following a Monday night game to the defense’s general tendency to rush four and drop linebackers into coverage to the overall philosophy of waiting out an opposing quarterback.

For his part, Carroll said the scrutiny for the collapse in Cincinnati should start with him.

“We’ve got to figure out – schematically – how to make sure we do the right things at the end of the game,” he said. “It’s all about outlasting and doing right longer.”

But so far this season, the fourth quarter is when things have gone wrong for Seattle.