The 'most frustrating' QB-WR duo in history?

Seahawks-Bears Vision Board and questions from Super Joes

Today is the sixth Christmas in a row that Seaside Joe has gone to work to write a newsletter about the Seahawks for all the fans who like getting their news here. I know it’s the sixth Christmas because Seaside Joe hasn’t taken a day off — no birthdays, no fourth of julys, no thanksgivings or halloweens or sick days — since March 4, 2019.

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Here are this week’s 3 visions for Seahawks-Bears.

Outwit: Sack Caleb Williams at least 4 times

New rumor…

The Bears have lost 10+ games in the last four seasons and they only have one winning season since 2013, so a coach like Pete Carroll who can keep Chicago out of the basement in a very tough division would be valuable.

And although Carroll is known as a “defensive” coach, he’s also not a defensive coordinator. He’s more of a leader, a manager, and a mentor. One thing he did very well in Seattle was manage coaches who could develop Russell Wilson into the most efficient passer despite poor protection and that’s something that Caleb could use right now:

• Williams has been sacked an NFL-worst 60 times

• He has lost an NFL-worst 413 yards on those plays

• He’s been sacked in all 15 games, he’s been sacked 2+ times in 14 of those games, he’s fumbled in 7 different games

How many sacks does Derick Hall have this season? 7. But how many of those sacks came to him because the QB ran out of bounds or fell down on purpose? He has a few “technical sacks”, including at the end of Sundays loss to the Vikings. I just don’t see the dynamic, creative, exotic blitz and pass rush attack from Mike Macdonald that I expected to see (which will come up later in the Q and A segment).

Seattle’s pass rush needs to pick it up and Macdonald must orchestrate at least 4 sacks against an offense that practically doesn’t have an offensive coordinator.

Outlast: Sam Howell makes a fourth quarter appearance

Since their brutal hail mary loss to the Washington Moons, the Bears have been the worst team in the NFL, going 0-8 in their last eight games:

• Outscored by 103 points (32nd)

• 120 points scored (31st)

• 223 points allowed (31st)

• 4.65 yards per play (31st)

• 5.88 yards per play allowed (31st)

Within the last eight weeks, the Bears have lost games by scores of 29-9, 19-3, 38-13, 30-12, and 34-17 last week against the Lions, so they get blown out more often than they don’t.

I don’t care if it’s Thursday and I don’t care if it’s on the road. IF Seattle is “good”, they should not have a problem taking a large lead against the worst team in the NFL and being so in control that they can pull Geno and give Howell some reps to save Smith for Week 18 IF the Seahawks have a chance to win the division.

Outplay: Kenn(eth) McIntosh coming out party

Not Kenneth Walker, but Kenny McIntosh should be a featured player on Thursday. Even though Zach Charbonnet is looking like the probable starter…

I’m putting McIntosh on the vision board because why not him?

Charbonnet had one carry for -1 yard against the Vikings, while McIntosh had three carries for 14 yards. Both were used in the passing game, but McIntosh should have the freshest legs on the team for this week. He has 13 carries in the past three weeks and has gained 61 yards on those plays.

If the weather is harsh, a strong ground game (finally) could be what gets Seattle out of Chicago with their ninth win and a winning record.

What are your Seahawks-Bears visions this week?

Here are this week’s questions from Super Joes subscribers. If you want to upgrade to Super Joes, either to participate in the Q and A or just to support this DAILY Seahawks newsletter (2,126 days in a row) at a higher level of $10 per month, upgrade to Super Joes:

Rusty: Has the season gone as you expected? For the most part it has for me. I expected just a little more defensive consistency, and certainly HOPED for a better result. But when looking at the whole season, it’s seems like an OK result for a new coaching staff and first time HC, DC and OC.

Agreed. There are aspects of the Seahawks that differ from expectations, like not being able to score touchdowns on the opening drive, the run game being what it is, and the defense suffering major lapses late in the season, but being 8-7 with “averageness” seems about right.

That being said, the Seahawks are 26th in giveaways (12 games with a turnover, 9 games with multiple turnovers) and only 20th in takeaways. So if I think about it long enough, I might come away with the conclusion that Seattle is worse than I expected because Macdonald and Grubb’s influence on either side of the ball isn’t producing the predicted results yet.

zezinhom400: Yes I agree with Rusty…If you have the 32nd-paid OL in the league, and #31 and #30 are paying 17% more than you, and are paying it to 7 or 8 linemen and you're covering 9 OL's with that 32nd-place salary allocation, should you really be expecting anything better than 32nd place? So, let's first fix the OL please. And then see if Grubb, Geno and the running game need to be scrapped.

Only thing I push back on is that teams “have to spend money” to have a good offensive line. The Seahawks could have drafted an offensive lineman instead of Byron Murphy II. They could have picked someone in the third round who turned out to be better this season than Christian Haynes. They could have evaluated better and plucked guards and centers out of free agency and later in the draft who were better fits than these players.

Some of the worst offensive linemen in the NFL are overpaid because a team threw money at a problem instead of actually fixing it.

Thank you to ML for getting someone they LOVE an annual Seaside Joe gift subscription yesterday! Get someone the gift of Seahawks news and reports every day:

Largentium had a great longer comment, but I just have to edit it down to the main points for space. Thank you for your insights, as always:

Largentium: I don't even know where to begin about yesterday (and the future for that matter).

1. Clearly Riq Woolen deserved his benching, because letting Justin Jefferson just run right by you on a pass play in a close game is pretty unforgivable…

2. Geno to Metcalf has to be the most frustrating passing duo to watch in the history of football…

3. I've been pretty supportive of Grubb for the most part, but here we go again with pretty much abandoning the run for another game…

4. The defense gets off to as bad of a start in pretty much every game as the offense does…

Most interesting point you bring up is whether or not Geno Smith to DK Metcalf is the most frustrating passing duo in history. The “most frustrating” would probably be a QB-WR that were brought together to be elite and didn’t pan out at all (Baker Mayfield-OBJ?), but I know what you’re saying because they could be great if they were consistent.

However, I have no fear of the Seahawks needing to replace either or both. Seattle hasn’t been a legitimate threat to win a playoff game in any of their three years together, so I’m not sure what fans are worried about missing out on if the Seahawks try something new, especially in a league where QB-WR or TE duos have dominated in the playoffs.

I find Patrick Mahomes, Matthew Stafford, Tom Brady to be better than Geno Smith. (Winners of the 6 most recent Super Bowls.) I find Travis Kelce, Cooper Kupp, Mike Evans, Tyreek Hill to have proven more than DK Metcalf. (Key players on those Super Bowl champions.)

How many mistakes do these players have to make before it’s enough? You mention Woolen deserving to be benched, but I thought he should have been benched in the middle of last season. Seems like the benchings are being held off longer than they need to be held off.

Danno: They were competitive with one of the best teams in the NFC, if not the NFL. Geno is not the long term answer, but he does make us competitive. What I want to see Is the O-line prioritized in Free agency and early in the draft….I hear that Jaxon’s OSU teammate Garrett Wilson wants out of NY. I would explore a trade with the Jets, DK for Wilson….Getting rid of DK means we can sign Jones, Reed and a guard. Keeping Geno for another year allows up to develop a QB.

Yeah, I wrote the idea to trade DK Metcalf for Garrett Wilson last week. I also mentioned Wilson back in 2022 as a player I’d be fine with Seattle drafting in the top-10, although picking Charles Cross was a better move for the team. Why not both?

The Seahawks can afford to do all of those things you mention while still keeping DK Metcalf because they’re going to cut all the cap casualties I’ve written about this year, but I still think that trading Metcalf is a fine idea if another team wants him bad enough.

Con: I know a couple people have commented on it, but I’m pretty curious if you’d be surprised if Grubb is one and done? Historically speaking, a coordinator very rarely has a mediocre year and then just fixes it by “developing”….I wouldn’t be upset with Grubb being back but the majority of Seahawks reporters/Writers seem to agree that him being replaced is a realistic possibility. I would say Waldron had a better first year and he wasn’t working with much better, in some ways there is a slight bias from the fanbase as Grubb comes from the area.

I think the Seahawks either know they’re going to keep Grubb already or they are thinking it over, but I don’t think they’ve already decided to fire him. So it’s like asking a question that has no answer right now. Short of firing Mike Macdonald, I don’t think anything would surprise me right now.

Usually because fans like players more than they like coaches, and they like head coaches more than they like assistant coaches, the blame falls on coordinators and the offensive line coach. I think it’s a cop out to fire an assistant coach.

Grant: I already know what you're going to say, Kenneth. "We'll talk about OCs if and when Grubb no longer holds that position with the team." However, is Mike Kafka going to be back on the market for a lateral move to OC? JS gave him a lot of attention last offseason and I wonder if a new opportunity will present itself.

Maybe.

Roger Woitte: Should DK be benched for the first possession next game? What will it take to get through to him that he is costing us games?

Would you change your entire disposition if you were not allowed to play three plays? That’s not accountability.

If the Rams clinch the NFC West this week, it could be in Seattle’s best interest to bench everybody in Week 18 and play guys like Howell or Jaren Hall, Cody White, Christian Haynes, McIntosh, and just buckle up for the 2025 offseason.

Jay’s Says: Hero and Zero of the Week

My wife Seaside Jay picks a hero on the Seahawks and a zero on the opponent:

Hero is... Kenny McIntosh seen here in his signature pose... which is also what I look like when I'm at the dentist and they ask me where it hurts.

Zero is... Bears running back, D'Andre Swift. There's only one Swift I want to see during a football game but she said not this week.

Seaside Joe 2126