11/1/2026
(Seattle, WA) The Seattle Seahawks are looking to string two prime time wins together on Monday night when they host the Chicago Bears. Seattle is coming in hot after obliterating the then undefeated Kansas City Chiefs 20-3. The Hawks defense “The Dark Side” was overwshelming and devastating. They will have their work cut out for them against a very good Bears offense at Lumen field Monday night.
The defending Super Bowl Champs are still on the outside looking in of the play-off picture but a win over Chicago would be huge when you look at their schedule through Christmas. They next host the Cardinals, travel to the Raiders, are at San Francisco, host Dallas and are home again for the Giants, travel to Philly before hosting the Rams on Christmas. Out of those next 6 games the Hawks are favored to win 5 with the only one they won’t be is at San Francisco, a team they certainly could have beaten but lost 32-29.
Seattle enters Monday night with a 4-3 record and at worst should be at least 9-5 when they meet the Rams on Christmas day and certainlky could run the table to that point for a best case scenario 11-3 record.
Schneider makes a big move
Seattle GM John Schneider pulled the trigger on a big trade bringing 8 time pro-bowl offensive guard Quenton Nelson to the Hawks from the Indianapolis Colts. Schneider gave up a 2027 3rd round draft pick and a 2028 5th rounder to get Nelson. He will start at left guard Monday against the Bearsw. Seattle will move Grey Zabel to right guard and Anthony Bradford who just returned from injury last week will be a reserve.
The move adds depth to the O-line who will be without starting tackle Charles Cross with an ankle injury suffered in last week’s game. Josh Jones will start for Cross. But the Hawks depth is now deeper if more adjustments need to be made. For more on the Nelson trade click this link to our story.
More Moves?
With the most criticism from the National talking heads focused on the Seahawks running backs or lack there-of through the first 7 weeks with Zach Charbonnet re-habbing his injured knee from last year and rookie 1st round draft pick Jadarian Price was on injured reserve with a chest injury. That left Emanuel Wilson and George Holani for 95% of the carries the past 3-4 weeks. Wilson busted loose last week against the Chiefs with a 100-yard night and a touchdown.
That hasn’t cooled the gossip that Seattle has to make a move to solidify the running back room with a trade. Since the Hawks are already tied to the Colts with the Nelson trade that has led to them being interested in making another big move in aquiring running back Jonathan Taylor for Indy. There are multiple teams apparently interested and the Colts are reportedly open to moving him for the right package of draft picks.
But is Schneider really considering that move? He has made big moves in the past when he traded Max Unger to the Saints for TE Jimmy Graham, took a shot on Percy Harvin who did have a big kick return in the Hawks Super Bowl win against Denver but did little else and then swinging for the fences when he brought Jamal Adams to town from the Jets for a boat load of draft capital.
It’s also reported that Schneider truly regrets the Unger deal so is he willing to make this move and adding pay-roll to the budget for the next 2-years?
Help is on the way!
Seahawks report that both Charbonnet and Price have been cleared to play. Now whether they get into Monday night’s game against the Bears is another question at this point. However it is clear that Charbonnet and Price added to Wilson and Holani, and the rest of the running backs room will give them the depth that they’ve been hoping for since the start of the season.
With that in mind we think Schneider wants to wait until after Monday night’s game to make a decision on whether or not he thinks it’s necessary to make a move for a running back. If the Seahawks win, again taking a look at that schedule through Christmas, he may decide that it’s not necessary to make any moves.
We still think it’s a long shot at best that Schneider goes after Taylor. Could he go after maybe another running back that wouldn’t cost as much, both in draft capital and in money? Someone like a Tony Pollard from the Titans or potential other running backs, seems to be more likely of the possibilities if indeed he does pull the trigger on bringing another running back to Seattle.
Monday Night Match-ups
Here are a few of the key matchups going into Monday night’s big game at home against the Chicago Bears. We’ll start with the trade: Quenten Nelson will get the start on the offensive line and likely face one of his old nemesis from the AFC South, Jeffrey Simmons from Tennessee. Simmons was sent to Chicago late last week in a trade for a pair of No. 1 draft picks from the Bears to the Titans. Simmons is regarded as one of the best interior defensive linemen in the NFL. Nelson is quite familiar with Simmons as they have faced off against each other twice a year for the past several seasons.
Offense vs Defense
All eyes will be on the biggest matchup of the night and that will be the explosive Chicago offense against the shutdown Dark Side defense of Seattle. Which side will come out victorious will likely determine the winner of Monday night’s game.
Seattle showed last week that they can shut down an effective running game when they limited Kenneth Walker III to his lowest output of the season, of about 35 yards. Chicago has a two-headed monster with DeAndre Swift and the return of running back Kyle Monangai. The defense will also need to put pressure on quarterback Caleb Williams. Williams has a tendency to make some poor choices when under pressure and could open the door for some Seattle turnovers in this game if they can get to Williams.
The flip side is the same case with the Chicago defense versus the Seattle offense. For Seattle it comes down to not turning the ball over and not putting the defense in bad positions. They did just that last week against Kansas City and came away with an easy 20-3 win. Sam Darnold did throw one interception but his two receivers ran into each other. It would have been tight either way but with them on the ground it was an easy pick in the end zone. Other than that Darnold was very judicious with the ball, even ran a couple of times, and picked up big first downs. Expect to see more of that Sam Darnold in this game against the Bears, rather than Darnold trying to force a pass into dangerous situations.
And whoever is running the ball for the Seahawks will need to be effective. They have shown they don’t need to put up 100-yard games each and every week but they need to be consistent: moving the ball forward, putting themselves in second- and third-and-short situations while picking up first downs and draining time off the clock.
Final Bright Spot
The one thing the Seahawks have been able to count on every week is the special teams in all phases. After a shaky preseason for Jason Myers, he has been on the money as a field goal kicker and on kickoffs. Is there a better punter than Michael Dixon in the NFL? We don’t think so. The return game has been strong in both the kickoff returns and punt returns and simply the decision-making in both of those has been exemplary.
Monday night’s game is certainly a big one and the Seahawks would love to come out of it with a 5-3 record.
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