Bear Digest

The dreadful message Seattle Seahawks' victory sent to Chicago Bears

With a win Sunday, the Bears would play at Seattle next at 5:30 p.m. Sunday for a chance to go to the Super Bowl but Seattle on Saturday night communicated something about that matchup.
Gene Chamberlain|
Leonard Williams sacks Brock Purdy as the Seattle defense ruled th day in a 41-6 win over the 49ers.
Leonard Williams sacks Brock Purdy as the Seattle defense ruled th day in a 41-6 win over the 49ers. | Steven Bisig-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

The Bears and their fans couldn't have come away from Saturday's playoff games feeling confident about Monday being anything other than a day to clean out the lockers at Halas Hall.

At best, the Bears had to be feeling a week from Monday is the day they'll be cleaning out the lockers at Halas Hall. Or at least they should be.

Seattle's 41-6 flushing of the San Francisco 49ers made a pretty sickening statement about several things to the Bears. It is Seattle where the Bears would go to play an NFC Championship Game on Jan. 24 at 5:30 p.m. if they beat the Rams Sunday night.

The road stops there

Seattle looks like a complete dead end. Forget about the Super Bowl.

“We've been saying, November, December football going into January, that's when we need to be at our best,” coach Ben Johnson said.

They really looked their best on Black Friday against the Eagles. Since then they’ve been staying afloat and then winning at the end of games.

Yet, Seattle looks like a team that really IS playing its best now, like a team on a mission, especially on defense.  When everyone in the league was scrambling for young, offensive geniuses as head coaches, the Seahawks went defensive side with Mike Macdonald and appear poised to win a Super Bowl in only his second year.

Seahawks fans were raucous and obnoxious Saturday like the "12th man" always was, and their "Dark Side" defense dominated the 49ers Saturday like the "Legion of Boom" used to do from 2012-2015.

That would be an extremely difficult place to play, and when their defense gets amped up it is a colossal advantage.

Teams with struggling defenses in such conditions, like the Bears have, would be at an extreme disadvantage.

Rams actually had them beat

Also, the Rams actually did go to Seattle the week before Christmas and had the Seahawks beat. It was 30-14 in the fourth quarter, and then Seattle emerged 38-37 overtime winners to control the NFC West.

The optimist might look at that and determine this means Seattle really isn’t that good and can be beaten at home if the Rams led by 16. The realist would look at it and determine the Bears wouldn't even get the chance to go to Seattle because the Rams are very nearly as good as the Seahawks.

How is their own feeble defense going to hold a Rams offense in check that scored 37 in Seattle against that defense? Even mistake-prone Sam Darnold looks efficient in this offense, supported by so strong of a running game and backed by the dominant defense.

The 'tough' NFC North

Finally, there is this whole NFC West thing going on here.

The Bears were the only team outside the NFC West in the NFC's final four. Before the season, people talked about the NFC North like a crucible for greatness. How would the Bears ever climb out of last place in what had to be the NFL's toughest division.

Instead, pity the poor Cardinals who forever must contend with the Rams, 49ers and Seahawks. That was an incredibly top-heavy division and easily the league’s best. The NFC North looks docile by comparison.

The NFC North and NFC West only had limited exposure to each other this season, but the Lions lost to the Rams, the Vikings got obliterated 26-0 by Seattle and the Bears lost a thriller at San Francisco. The Packers held up their end by beating the Cardinals. And congratulations. They needed to rally in the fourth quarter to do it against that division’s last-place team back when Micah Parsons was still playing.

Going out west to face any of those teams was going to be difficult for the Bears.

Playing the Rams at home will be difficult even with the weather advantage. And if they're fortunate enough to win Sunday night, Saturday night's game only showed the horrors awaiting in Seattle.

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.