Let me first say that this Chicago team that traveled to Seattle and played against the reigning Super Bowl champs very well might be the best overall team in football right now. They have a superb offensive coach and a really good defensive coordinator. They have arguably the brightest young quarterback in the game who is supported by a strong offensive line, and he has weapons galore to throw at, and hand the ball off to, and while he can certainly make plays with his legs, he is now realizing in this offense, in his third year in the league, that he doesn’t need to, he can reside in the pocket and make plays downfield with his top tier arm.
It is very fair to say that when the Bears boldly surrendered two first round picks to Tennessee for 29 year old All Pro defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons, they correctly assessed what position player to grab in order to complete their roster, and make it perhaps now the best in football. From the first moment Seattle hiked the ball on offense, you could feel from the stands that it was going to be a tough outing, and that feeling was doubled down on when Chicago forced a very fast three and out, got the ball, and Caleb Williams led a simply beautiful 17 play touchdown scoring drive against a top tier NFL defense.
So, I do say this to you, Twelves. I know last night was an incredibly hard watch, but the Seahawks may have just lost to the best team in the game right now that have made a trade to solidify themselves.
That said, I have personally seen enough out of offensive coordinator Brian Fleury after eight games played, and I feel like it is time for Mike Macdonald to make a very ruthless decision, and move on from him now. People will point to the quarterback and pine for his backup to get another crack at it, and I get that. I will say that, while my football smarts pale in comparison to many, I seriously doubt Drew Lock would make any difference right now, and he could very easily play significantly worse that what we have witnessed out of Darnold.
I know Darnold looks rattled and has regressed, but I do not think the struggles with this offense can greatly be placed on him. I just don’t.
Seattle, outside of one running back, has walked back the entire same offensive roster that it had last season, in through the playoffs, and through its Super Bowl victory. Last season, it was the third most explosive performing offense in the league. While it was greatly the JSN show in the passing game, Klint Kubiak found ways to scheme downfield Cooper Kupp, AJ Barner, and Tory Horton, and they were all able to make routine plays. Now, they cannot.
Last night against Chicago, Brian Fleury could not draw up any play on offense that would get the ball into the hands of any of these guys downfield against a pass defense that had ranked 18th in the league heading into Monday night. It was either JSN, or bust, for the most part. This is simply not good enough.
I walked out of Lumen Field last night not even frustrated. Seattle got their butt kicked from start to end by Chicago. I knew going into this game that it would likely be a dog fight, and in order for Seattle to hold serve and win, they would likely have to win a shootout, or come up with a number of incredible plays on defense against an offense properly loaded with weapons. Neither happened in this one.
Congrats Bears fans who poured into town and were loud at Lumen. Your team showed Seattle and the World who is presently boss.
When you get your butt kicked like that, all you can do is to shake the hand of the opposition and say “good game” as I did to a loud traveling Bears fan who was seated behind me last night. This is how to properly handle a butt kicking in the face of it, but now it is time for Mike Macdonald to properly handle a massively dysfunctional offense that is, in no way, ready to compete for another Super Bowl run, much less a playoff push right now.
I think it is time to fire Fleury. I don’t say this lightly, and I know that there are people involved beyond this individual OC. There is his family who have just moved into this region who will be greatly negatively affected. I feel for them, but I am as big of a Seahawks fan as you will find, and I do not want to see this team this derailed any more than it already has become. I need a coaching change.
This is the life of an NFL coach. The NFL really does stand for Not For Long, and if you cannot cut it, firings are a part of the reality that you have signed up for.
Fleury has been gifted the best receiver in the game, a quarterback who for two seasons under two other different coordinators has been very good, an offensive line who had played pretty well last year, and a promising young tight end who coming into the season, seemed poised to take big step forward in his development. All of this feels very squandered to the point that if Seattle did make a trade for Jonathan Taylor this week, I would have little confidence that the move would make that much of a difference.
Would Fleury even lean into such a feature back? Or after a heavy formation drive to which a defense would have to concern itself with such a player, and Darnold is successfully able to play action to a wide open JSN, would we then see Seattle go away from it the following drive into a more soft shotgun approach, as was the case last night?
I know that it is highly unlikely a Fleury firing would happen this week coming out of Monday night, and having a short week to prepare to host a Cardinals team who have now beaten the Cowboys and the Rams, but I see little reason to carry on with this rookie OC who is clearly not up for the task of being in charge of an offense that was top five last season. We have eight games now under Fleury, and the whole league has a proper scouting report out on his offense. Stop the run, bracket up JSN, and force Sam Darnold to throw elsewhere, he likely won’t have a comfortable option available.
If I were Mike Macdonald, I would most likely turn to Justin Outten who is the run game coordinator, and was credited for getting the Seahawk rushing attack on track last December when the running backs coach was relieved of duty and he stepped in to coach that group on top of still handling run game coordinating. Outten is the one coach on Seattle’s roster who actually has a history of calling plays in this league, and he is a Klint Kubiak disciple. If anyone could possibly take over play calling and get Seattle’s offense back on track to what it was last season, I would imagine that it would most likely be this person, but that is my best guess.
Alternatively, Macdonald could turn to pass game coordinator Jake Peetz who is well respected in the league, and might have a good read on how to fix Sam, and this pass offense. With hindsight resting before us, I think it is safe to say that one of these two guys should have been simply appointed to this position right after Kubiak left, but Macdonald might have been caught up over thinking things after a fun conversation with Fleury brought in during the last minute for an interview from outside.
What I feel significantly less confident in is continuing on with Fleury in charge for the remainder of the season. Suddenly after last night’s deplorable efforts, no game remaining on this schedule feels like a sure fire gimme get right game. The Cardinals, with Gardner Minshew leading forth quarter heroics against the Cowboys the other day, probably feel new life to their otherwise dreary season, and they will certainly be up for giving Seattle their best shot next Sunday. After that, Klint Kubiak will certainly be trying to do everything he can to get his Raiders to beat his former team in Vegas.
After that, you have the 49ers who are feeling themselves, then the Cowboys, Giants, and Eagles. Seattle will probably grab some wins there, but how many, I am not certain. Then you haver two games against a Rams team that has always played you tough, and a Carolina team who won’t lay down as they defend their home turf.
Simply put, if Seattle does not win both of these two outings against the Cardinals and Raiders, I highly doubt this will be a playoff team, let alone being a team with a winning record by the season’s end. You can bench Darnold, and move onto Lock, but if Fleury cannot improve his play calling, I seriously doubt it would do a lick of good, and it would probably be more damaging for the morale of this team.
Something has got to give, and unfortunately for Fleury and his family, I think it is him. I think he has got to go. Now. We will see.
Go Hawks.
