The Seahawks have been inconsistent, at best, on the road this season, but the one thing you can say about their road games is that they’re never boring.
The Seahawks just finished off a 23-17 overtime win over the Bears that saw rookie QB Russell Wilson lead not one but two impressive late-game drives. Wilson not only led the Seahawks 97 yards to take the lead late in the fourth quarter, he followed that with an 80-yard drive in overtime after the defense inexplicably let Brandon Marshall burn them on a 56-yard pass that set up a game-tying field goal.
“Guys made plays when we really needed them,” Wilson said in a postgame interview with Fox. “… We made plays when we needed them.”
And nobody made more plays than Wilson, who continued his run of impressive play with an incredible late-game showing. On what should have been the game-winning, 97-yard drive, Wilson threw for 80 yards, including a touchdown pass to Golden Tate, and ran for 19 more. He made plays with his arm and legs again in overtime, leading an 80-yard drive that ended with a Sidney Rice touchdown reception. Wilson finished the day 23 for 37 for a season-high 293 yards, two touchdown and no interceptions, and in his last four games, Wilson has completed 72 of 107 (67.2 percent) of his passes for 878 yards, 9 touchdowns and no interceptions.
Feel-good win aside, the Seahawks do have some areas of concern after this game.
The defense, which struggled late in the loss to Miami, got off to a rough start in this game, then had a huge breakdown late in the game as well, allowing the Bears to tie the game in regulation. Rice, who took a huge hit on the game-winning touchdown, appears to be OK, Pete Carroll told reporters after the game, but the way he was hit and went down, you have to wonder if further tests might reveal a concussion.
But even though there are issues to address on defense, and even if there are still looming questions about possible suspensions to cornerbacks Richard Sherman and Brandon Browner, this win undoubtedly changed the feel of the stretch run for Seattle. The Seahawks are now 7-5 with three of their final four at home, and what is a winnable road game in Buffalo. Not only that, but the 49ers loss to St. Louis means the Seahawks could conceivably win the division still with a strong finish.
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