Seattle Seahawks could upset the Chicago Bears in NFC playoff
If there is one thing the Seahawks know how to do, its defying the odds. They did that against the Saint Luis Rams to take the National Football Conference (NFC) West title in the 2010-11 season. The division race came down to the very last game, and Seattle’s
starting quarterback wasn’t even playing.
The Seahawks were considered the underdogs, but that didn’t stop them winning the title. Their division title came off a losing record, much to the dismay of other teams with better records, who couldn’t make the playoffs. The Seahawks were unapologetic
and with their win over the New Orleans Saints they have, to an extent, redeemed themselves.
The Saints were the obvious favourites for their first playoff game but Seattle’s offence exploded with energy and without warning when it needed to. The Seahawks were flexible and versatile against the Saints. Not to mention the Saints were a bit clumsy
also. Kudos to Marshawn Lynch for breaking through eight tackles, but the Saints have to ask themselves how they could let Lynch slip through their fingers time and time again.
To the Seahawks credit they tried a number of different things with their offence, kept the Saints off balance, and it worked. We have seen the Saints do better but the bottom line is that the Seahawks have earned their place in the playoffs, and this Sunday
they are heading to Chicago to face the Bears.
The Seahawks are again the underdogs but now they are being given a lot more credit. All the analysts, commentators and pundits are forced to acknowledge the possibility that the Seahawks could beat the Bears. The odds aren’t in their favour, but they have
been fighting through the odds for weeks now.
Matt Hasselbeck put up an exceptional performance against the Saints with four touchdowns and 272 yards passing. It was Hasselbeck’s best performance of the season. The quarterback’s ratings in the game were a season high 113.0. Lynch boosted the offence
with 131 rushing yards against the New Orleans defence, his only 100 yard game of the season. Hasselbeck and Lynch’s combined performance put the Seahawks into offensive overdrive, and earned them the victory over the Saints. However, let’s face it, that was
just a one-off thing.
Lynch has rushed 737 yards in 16 games (he started 14) for six touchdowns. That makes for an average of less than 50 yards a game. His performance in recent games had been showing signs of improvement, but he still can’t be considered a consistent and dependable
running back. If the Seahawks can pull off a performance like that against the Bears they could win, but with Seattle you never can know what to expect.
The Bears have already been defeated once by the Seahawks in the regular season. Both teams are undoubtedly trying to figure out what they did right and where they went wrong while reviewing tapes from that game. What the Seahawks definitely did right was
sack Bears quarterback Jay Cutler six times.
The Bears have struggled to protect their quarterback throughout the 2010 season. He has been sacked a whopping 52 times in the regular season and the problem persisted from the start of the season. In Chicago’s last regular season game the Green Bay Packers
sacked Cutler 6 times to win the game. The Giants sacked Cutler nine times earlier in the season and they won that game too.
Cutler has fought well despite the pressure on him, but it is clear he has a breaking point, and the Seahawks are quite capable of pushing him to that limit. The question is how well Seattle can protect its own quarterback. The Bears have a very strong defence,
which is capable of scuttling any team’s rushing offence. They are prone to turnovers themselves but still have a positive turnover ratio. If the Seahawks can keep that defence in check, they have a real shot at causing another upset and winning the game.
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