SEATTLE – The Seattle Seahawks have spent the first half of this season searching for an identity on both sides of the ball while dealing with the growing pains that come with a new head coach and an inexperienced, chemistry-less group of assistants.

Those ups and downs made questions about who the Seahawks are and what they would be under Mike Macdonald difficult to answer definitively — until Sunday’s 26-20 overtime loss to the Los Angeles Rams at Lumen Field.

The loss, the Seahawks’ fourth consecutive home game and fifth in their last six games overall, revealed the truth about Macdonald’s team that enters Week 10 holding last place in the NFC West with a 4-5 record .

The Seahawks are a team that does a great job of not being good enough.

“If we sit here and say we’re in a good spot, we’d be lying,” Seattle tight end AJ Barner said. “Everyone wants to play better.”

GO DEEPER

Robinson’s TD grab gives Rams a 26-20 OT win over Seahawks: Takeaways

Seattle committed grueling penalties and costly turnovers on Sunday, but still had a chance to beat the Rams after winning the coin toss to start overtime. The team needed 1 yard from the Rams’ 16-yard line twice to extend what could have been the game-winning drive, but Ken Walker III was stopped on consecutive runs, giving Los Angeles (4-4) the ball on the 17.

“Buy money doesn’t make money,” said receiver Tyler Lockett, who cleared Seattle’s fourth-down decision. “The way we ran the ball, the way we made plays there, a lot of things went our way. We were home; fans were in it. Why don’t you go for it?”

Macdonald added: “We have to be able to get half a meter in two shots. Great football teams change third and fourth and short players, and right now we’re not doing that.”

Matthew Stafford needed only a field goal to win, but instead put together an 83-yard touchdown drive, ending with a 39-yard play to receiver Demarcus Robinson with cornerback Riq Woolen in coverage. Woolen had a chance to possibly end the game earlier in the drive when a Stafford pass went straight to his hands, but receiver Tyler Johnson stepped in front of him and caught the ball for a 24-yard gain. Woolen was defeated three plays later for the game winner. (Woolen declined a post-match interview request.)

MATTHEW STAFFORD TO DEMARCUS ROBINSON ONE-HANDED TD TO WIN THE GAME FOR @RAMSNFL! pic.twitter.com/xqFG6xQ4eS

—NFL (@NFL) November 4, 2024

“He’s a great player,” Seattle safety Coby Bryant said of Woolen, his 2022 classmate who intercepted Stafford in the second quarter. “Things happen. Great defense, great catching. Kudos to them. We’ll see them again.”

Bryant is referring to the Week 18 rematch, which Seattle hopes still has meaning at that point in the year. The Seahawks are 0-2 in the NFC West, 1-4 in conference play and have only a 10 percent chance of making the playoffs and a 7 percent chance of winning the division, according to The Athletics‘s projection model. Seattle has created a deep hole for itself after a 3-0 start.

“Not where we want to be, especially with how we started,” said quarterback Geno Smith, who took the loss after three interceptions, one of which was returned for a touchdown. “In fact, in all the games we lost we had a chance to win. And so it will be in this competition; it is always a one-goal competition.”

Smit is largely right. Seattle has had the ball with a chance to tie or take the lead in the fourth quarter or overtime in four of its five losses (last week against Buffalo was the exception). Seattle’s only game-winning drive this season came in Week 2 against the Patriots, who are 2-7.

“Really proud of these guys, how they all fought to the end,” left guard Laken Tomlinson said. ‘We just have to finish. We gotta finish it, man.”

Seattle breezed through most of the first half and trailed 3-0 when it got the ball with 3:31 left in the second quarter. The Seahawks went 70 yards in nine plays and took a 6-3 lead on a 30-yard touchdown pass from Smith to Lockett. Smith used a hard count to bounce multiple defenders offside, leading to a free play and cornerback Darious Williams, leaving Lockett wide open along the sideline. Lockett’s catch came on third-and-8 and was Seattle’s second third-down conversion of the game; the other was a Walker run of 4 yards on third-and-1 earlier in the drive.

Three plays into the ensuing Rams possession, Stafford threw a jump ball to receiver Puka Nacua in a one-on-one matchup with Woolen, who jumped and picked off the pass at the 25-yard line with 27 seconds left. During Woolen’s celebration, Nacua got into an altercation with Tyrel Dodson, swung at the linebacker in response to a shove and was thrown from the game while being flagged for a 15-yard penalty.

GO DEEPER

Rams WR Puka Nacua ejected in second quarter vs. Seahawks

On Seattle’s second play of the next series, another hard count gave Smith a free play, and he took advantage again by finding a wide-open Jaxon Smith-Njigba for 46 yards to the Rams’ 24-yard line. Smith and Smith-Njigba again ran two plays for a 24-yard touchdown when the receiver broke free on a post route with 5 seconds left.

Just like that, Seattle went into the break up 13-3. A crowd that booed the offense early in the first quarter cheered as the Seahawks jogged into the locker room during intermission.

But the third quarter belonged to the Rams, who scored drives of 75 and 62 yards, while the Seahawks were held scoreless on their only possession. That drive stopped in part because of a holding penalty that negated a 40-yard completion for Smith-Njigba and led to a run play on third-and-26. That was the first of two explosive receptions by Smith-Njigba that were negated by holding calls on sixth-round rookie right tackle Mike Jerrell, who came in when George Fant suffered a knee injury in the first quarter. Jerrell also was assessed a holding penalty in the fourth quarter, negating a 38-yard catch by Smith-Njigba, Seattle’s leading receiver, with a career-high 180 yards on seven catches.

Smith completed 21 of 34 passes for 363 yards and three touchdowns, but also was picked off near the goal line on consecutive fourth-quarter drives. On first and goal from the 6, Smith held the ball too long and was hit while trying to throw it out of the back of the end zone. The ball went straight to safety Kamren Kitchens, who returned the ball 103 yards for a touchdown to give the Rams a 20-13 lead. Smith said he could have thrown the ball away earlier instead of holding it to try to make a play.

103-YARD PICK-6!

Kamren Kinchens takes it all the way back for the @RamsNFL 🙌

📺: #LARvsSEA on FOX
📱: https://t.co/waVpO909ge pic.twitter.com/vEVC2pom4i

—NFL (@NFL) November 4, 2024

Seattle’s next drive ended on second-and-goal from the 4 when the timing of a short pass to Barner was thrown off because the tight end had been snared by a defensive lineman. Kinchens chose that one too. Smith said picking up Barner does not excuse his interception.

“My decisions affect everyone, not just myself,” Smith said. ‘I have to be better. I don’t just say that to say, I really know I can be better. It hurts me that I couldn’t get it done today.”

Smith accounted for 86 yards on the tying score to end regulation, despite being sacked for the seventh time to start that series. He completed a pass 28 yards down the sideline to receiver Cody White – making his regular-season debut after being undrafted from the practice squad – scrambled 11 yards and completed back-to-back passes to Smith-Njigba, one for 29 yards on fourth-and-5 and another for a 14-yard touchdown with 51 seconds left. Smith and Smith-Njigba also connected 31 yards in overtime after another hard count drew an offside penalty.

Despite these clutch plays, two of the Seahawks’ biggest flaws came back to bite them. Seattle’s offense came into this game among the worst in the league in designed running back carries, and the defense entered Week 8 with the fourth-worst play-action defense, according to TruMedia.

Walker had 83 yards on 25 carries and was responsible for most of Seattle’s yards in overtime, but the blocking wasn’t there for him to get a first down on two straight plays with the game on the line. Seattle’s defense improved against the run (Kyren Williams had just 69 yards on 22 carries), but when Stafford needed big plays in overtime, he used play-action bootlegs to his left; first to receiver Tutu Atwell for 16 yards and then again to Robinson for the game winner.

Seattle can point to its fight and resilience as one of the things to be encouraged as we head into the bye week. But the Rams, winners of three straight, can point to being better at executing. And in such a tight divisional race, that’s the difference between looking for answers from fourth place and moving to the division lead in the second half of the season.

“Eight games to go and get it, man,” Smith said. “Everything we work for in the offseason, all the hard work we put in all week, it’s this last stretch. This eight-game stretch is what it’s all about.”

(Photo by Geno Smith: Rio Giancarlo/Getty Images)

Scoop City Newsletter

Free, daily NFL updates delivered straight to your inbox.

Free, daily NFL updates delivered straight to your inbox.

To register