After slow start, Seattle’s D rises to the occasion

Published 11:06 pm Sunday, November 18, 2007

SEATTLE — The Seahawks had a chance to blow the game open in the third quarter Sunday, but a Matt Hasselbeck fumble delayed the merriment.

We say delayed, because the way the Seattle defense is playing, the team enjoys a rather hefty margin for error.

In the Seahawks’ first second-half possession, Hasselbeck capped an eight-play drive with a short scoring pass to Nate Burleson to give the Seahawks a 24-17 lead over Chicago.

The Bears failed to respond when they got the ball back. Much of the disruption came from Leroy Hill’s sack that threw them back 10 yards. Chicago was forced to give the ball up.

Potentially, the Seahawks were looking at a touchdown and a 31-17 lead. It was difficult to fathom how the offensively challenged Bears would rebound from that kind of a deficit.

Seattle’s next play rendered the point moot. A trapped Hasselbeck ran amok in his own backfield, fumbled and gave the Bears the ball on the Seahawks 39-yard line.

Suddenly, the Bears were back in it. A touchdown would tie the game; a field goal and they would be just four points down.

But the Seattle defense came up huge, sparked by a monster hit by Darryl Tapp on Cedric Benson for a 3-yard loss that got the 68,249 at Qwest Field roaring. Later, on fourth-and-1, Hill combined with Lofa Tatupu to hold Benson without a yard.

Crisis averted.

“On their touchdown run, they ran power and this was the exact same run,” Hill said. “We knew what was coming. We got ‘em. It was just smashmouth, you know what I’m saying? You push me off, I’ll push you back. Let’s see what happens.”

That series was critical to Seattle’s 30-23 victory. It was typical of a second half in which the Seattle defense allowed just six points, 5 rushing yards, came up with five sacks, twice forced Chicago to hand over the ball on downs and pounced on a fumble.

But none came at a better time than the above fourth-down play.

“That’s such a momentum swing,” defensive tackle Craig Terrill said. “For us to get that, especially at such a critical spot on the field, that’s big for us.”

The Bears scored 10 points on their first two possessions. On their last 12, they managed just 13. The Seattle defense came up with big play after big play, from Patrick Kerney’s three sacks and forced fumble to Hill’s game-high 10 tackles and one sack.

Two of the few defensive breakdowns came in the first quarter on a pair of runs by Benson, a 43-yard TD escape on the second play of the game and a 20-yarder that helped set up a field goal.

After that, Benson was no factor. Neither were the rest of the Bears.

“We didn’t execute, but we knew what we did wrong,” Kerney said of Benson’s TD. “This is a game of milli-seconds and half-inches. That’s how precise this game is. You have to execute every down. You give Cedric a gap, he’ll find it.”

After an up-and-down first half of the season, the Seahawk stoppers have put together two straight impressive games. Against the 49ers Monday night, they gave up just six first downs. On Sunday, the numbers weren’t overwhelming, but after spotting the Bears the first 10 points of the game, the Seattle defense simply ruled.

“That’s the way we want it for four quarters,” free safety Brian Russell said. “I think it says something that we can be down 10-0 early, rally the troops and came back against a good team.”

Benson gained 63 yards on his first two carries, but managed just 26 yards on nine carries the rest of the way. Rex Grossman was sacked five times in the second half. In the Bears’ seven possessions after the intermission, they had just two field goals.

“Everybody started just focusing in, especially myself,” Seahawks linebacker Julian Peterson said. “The defense started playing much better and started making plays. Our corners and safeties did a great job of covering. We were very active and if we can continue to do that, we can do some good things.”

Sports columnist John Sleeper: sleeper@heraldnet.com. To reach Sleeper’s blog, click on cmg-northwest2.go-vip.net/heraldnet/danglingparticiples.