Seahawks fans scanning the Sunday slate for Seattle won’t find it. The defending Super Bowl champions don’t play today, and the wait comes after a 20-3 win in which they handed Kansas City its first loss.
Seattle (4-3) hosts the Chicago Bears (5-2) on Monday Night Football at Lumen Field. That extra day gives Mike Macdonald’s staff more time to work Quenton Nelson into the offensive line after the Seahawks sent a 2027 third-round pick and a 2028 fifth-round pick to the Indianapolis Colts for the All-Pro guard.
It’s the first of two Monday night home games for the Seahawks this season, with the Dallas Cowboys coming to town in Week 13.
How the Seahawks match up with Chicago
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Seattle’s defense has carried this team. The Seahawks rank second in the NFL in defensive EPA per play at minus-0.118, behind only the Minnesota Vikings, and third against both the pass and the run, according to rbsdm.com. Opponents have a 36.5% success rate against them.
Ernest Jones IV leads the unit with 68 tackles and three sacks. Byron Murphy II, Leonard Williams and Derick Hall have three sacks apiece for a defense with 17 as a team, and that group gets a Bears offense that ranks 11th in EPA per play and 10th on dropbacks with Caleb Williams.
The other side of the ball is where it gets harder. Seattle’s offense is 25th in EPA per play, held down by a run game that ranks 29th. Emanuel Wilson has 403 rushing yards at 3.6 yards per carry, and the passing game sits 17th by EPA despite Jaxon Smith-Njigba’s 867 receiving yards and eight touchdowns.
Sam Darnold has eight touchdown passes and eight interceptions after Drew Lock led the offense early while Darnold was banged up. He’ll see a Chicago defense that ranks 14th in EPA per play and just added Jeffery Simmons up front in a trade with the Tennessee Titans.
Seattle’s remaining schedule and NFC West race
Here’s how the Seahawks’ 2026 schedule shakes out from here:
- Week 8: vs. Chicago Bears, Monday, Nov. 2
- Week 9: vs. Arizona Cardinals, Sunday, Nov. 8
- Week 10: at Las Vegas Raiders, Sunday, Nov. 15
- Week 11: Bye
- Week 12: at San Francisco 49ers, Sunday, Nov. 29
- Week 13: vs. Dallas Cowboys, Monday, Dec. 7
- Week 14: vs. New York Giants, Sunday, Dec. 13
- Week 15: at Philadelphia Eagles, Saturday, Dec. 19
- Week 16: vs. Los Angeles Rams, Friday, Dec. 25
- Week 17: at Carolina Panthers, Sunday, Jan. 3
- Week 18: at Los Angeles Rams, TBD
Seattle is two games behind the San Francisco 49ers (6-1) in the NFC West, and San Francisco already owns the head-to-head win after a 32-29 decision at Lumen Field in Week 5. The rematch in Santa Clara comes right out of the bye, and it might settle the division.
The rest of the slate leaves room to make up ground. Seattle’s remaining opponents have a combined .493 winning percentage, 19th-toughest in the league, according to Tankathon, and seven of the 10 games left come against teams currently under .500.
For now, the Seahawks sit outside the NFC’s three wild-card spots, behind the Bears, Green Bay Packers (5-3) and Detroit Lions (4-2). A win Monday would pull Seattle even with Chicago at 5-3 and give the Seahawks the head-to-head tiebreaker, which is why Monday night carries real weight for a team chasing a repeat.
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