RENTON — Geno Smith has no time. He is in no mood.
For assessing his season.
“None of that really matters right now,” the 34-year-old quarterback said Tuesday, two days after Seattle lost at home to Minnesota — and two days before the Seahawks (8-7) try to stay in contention for the NFC West title playing at the Chicago Bears (4-11) Thursday night.
“I’m just focused on the next game.”
How about the offense? How do you assess how its performing?
“Yeah, I think that’s not important, either,” Smith said. “I think what’s important is that we get ready for this next opponent. We’ve got a tough time coming up Thursday night.”
The one thing Smith would assess on Christmas Eve: His injured knee.
He got hurt two games ago, in Seattle’s home loss to Green Bay. He missed the final 20 minutes of that game, while backup Sam Howell struggled. Smith played with hurting against Minnesota. His linemen had to yank him off the ground as he hobbled some each time the Vikings hit him or he fell to the turf.
Asked Tuesday if the knee injury is behind him, Smith said: “No, it’s not. It’s going to be there for a while.
“But, got to keep pushin’.”
Geno Smith vs. Minnesota
Smith had to be perfect on the bad knee for his flawed team to beat the rampaging Vikings (13-2) last weekend. He was not.
He threw two interceptions. The first one was to avoid a sack on scrimmage play after Minnesota scored a touchdown to take a 14-7 lead in the first half. That gave the Vikings three points.
He got sacked twice. The second time Smith avoided one blitzing linebacker then ran into another after Seattle had reached the Vikings 36-yard line with 3 minutes remaining and his team trailing 27-24. The sack pushed Jason Myers out of maximum range for a field goal. Myers’ kick to tie the game with under 2 minutes left was wide and about 3 yards short.
The interception and the sack led directly to six lost points, three gifted to Minnesota and three Seattle didn’t get, in a game the Seahawks lost by three to fall out of control of winning the division.
Smith is third in the NFL in passing yards (3,937) and second in completions (370). He has 17 touchdown passes against 15 interceptions. The interceptions are second-most in the league behind only Kirk Cousins. The NFC South-leading Falcons have benched Cousins and are starting rookie Michael Penix Jr. from the University of Washington.
Against the Vikings, Smith completed 31 of 43 passes for 314 yards, three touchdowns (to DK Metcalf, Jaxon Smith-Njigba and AJ Barner) and the two interceptions.
Sunday, minutes after the damaging loss to Minnesota ended, coach Mike Macdonald was asked to do what Smith would not. He was asked to assess how his quarterback played.
“Geno is our top competitor on our football team,” Macdonald said. “We’re not sitting here with life at the end of December unless Geno has done the things he’s done. He’s a fighter, man.
“I thought he played a good game.”
Monday, the 37-year-old head coach was asked again about Smith against the Vikings.
“I thought he played good enough to win the game,” Macdonald said.
“He did some really great things. You know, if we get a stop when we’re up four in the end of the fourth quarter, we’re having a different conversation right now.
“Everybody wants to talk about the interceptions, and rightfully so, and those are things that we’re working through. But I mean, one of the reasons that we’re here with life…is I really felt that Geno’s helped put us in this position.
“So, I thought he played a strong game.”
The sack of Smith was the most crucial play of the Seahawks’ loss to the Vikings. Seattle had a first down at the Minnesota 36 with 3 minutes left. Did Macdonald and offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb consider running the ball there instead of throwing, to perhaps force the Vikings to use their time outs on defense to preserve a chance at a final possession of what could have been a tie game with a field goal from there or, presuming gained yards on two or three runs, closer?
“Those things are part of the conversation and how we intended to operate,” Macdonald said. “And we didn’t get it done in that moment, so that’s disappointing, obviously. We had a chance to tie it up with the ball moving forward.
“We’ll be better next time. But that was definitely part of the conversation. We’re operating with that under that pretense.”
Instead, Grubb called for Smith to drop back to pass. The sack the Seahawks couldn’t have made Myers’ field-goal try from 60 yards.
After Myers missed the kick, the Seahawks got the ball back with 55 seconds left and no time outs, with first down from their own 12 down 27-24. On the first play of the possession, Smith threw long outside right toward Metcalf. The big receiver turned to the outside on his route then stopped. Smith threw it toward the sideline Metcalf didn’t move to. The Vikings intercepted the pass to end the game.
What happened between Metcalf and Smith on that final play against Minnesota?
“We’ll get that fixed in-house, and we’ve got to move forward,” Macdonald said.
“But in those chunk situations, I thought we had a good plan, and we just didn’t get it done.”
Chicago Bears challenge
Now, it’s onto the Bears — with the Seahawks needing help to wrest the NFC West from the first-place Rams (9-6) these next two weeks.
Smith said the Bears, ranked 26th defensively, have one of the league’s most talented and highest-paid defenses, “with first-rounders across the board.”
Smith and the Seahawks offense may not have lead back Kenneth Walker against Chicago. He was hobbling around the locker room Tuesday and did not practice with a new ankle injury he got in the second half of the Minnesota game. Walker had missed the previous two games with an injured calf.
This — only two practices before a Christmas Day flight to Chicago to play the next day — is not the week to play on a freshly injured ankle.
“Quick turnaround. Obviously, you got to put the last game behind you and move on to the next opponent,” Smith said before Seattle’s second Thursday game this season (they lost at home to San Francisco on a four-day turnaround in early October.
“Obviously, guys have got to get their bodies right, study and make sure they know the game plan.
“Those are some of the challenges, but we’ve done this before.”
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