Seattle Seahawks Coach Pete Carroll Focusing on 'Positives Moving Forward'

The Seattle Seahawks lost a very winnable game against the Cincinnati Bengals, but head coach Pete Carroll says there were plenty of positives to come from the game.

The Seattle Seahawks will reflect on several missed opportunities in their 17-13 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals at Paycor Stadium on Sunday, though the red zone struggles ultimately cost Pete Carroll's team.

There is no doubt that Seattle will feel this was the "one that got away" in the Monday review of the loss to the Bengals. The Seahawks had no trouble moving the ball up and down the field, but when it came to scoring in the red zone, they failed ... and badly.

But despite the feeling of "what-if" after the loss, Carroll says there are still plenty of positives to take out of Sunday's performance.

"Heading out on the road again and playing a full 60 minutes of football; tough right from the beginning and being ready to go and playing all the way to the end," Carroll said. 

"We had so many ways to win the football game. We had so many ways to score and opportunities that got squandered. There were a lot of positives moving forward. I wasn’t thinking positive thoughts in my head, I was just pleased that we made it so hard on them because we played so tough.”

The Seahawks didn't lose any admirers from their loss to the Bengals, but the cold hard facts are they lost and drop to 3-2 on the season.

But as Carroll stated, there are positives to take out of the game. The defense stifled the Bengals offense, restricting them to just 17 points and 214 total yards, while also picking off Joe Burrow and sacking him three times.

For Shane Waldron's offense, going 1 of 5 in the red zone is ultimately what lost them the game. The Seahawks would enter the red zone four times in the second half, and only came away with three points.

Everything else in the game went in Seattle's favor. They Seahawks had more yards, more plays and held the ball for nearly nine minutes more, but came away empty-handed at Paycor Stadium.

There will be lessons learned from the loss on Sunday. But Seattle did a whole lot right and if those red zone issues can be fixed, then the Seahawks will be just fine moving forward.

But until then, Carroll's team will have to live with losing a game they had no right losing.