Christmas Eve Groundhog Day early for Seahawks. They can’t recover in 24-10 loss at Chiefs

Christmas Eve began as Groundhog Day for the Seahawks.

Despite multiple chances to, they never recovered.

Penalties, long yardage on third downs and the inability to stop the run were why Seattle trailed Kansas City 17-0 early then lost 24-10 Saturday to the AFC West-champion Kansas City Chiefs in 1-degree wind chill inside Arrowhead Stadium.

“This wasn’t the way to make it a happiest Christmas for us,” coach Pete Carroll said.

“This was a tough game for us. In the first half we just couldn’t get going. Couldn’t make a first down and got nothing going, at all, and had to just wait it out.

“And once we found our rhythm, in the second half you could see us play. We played with these guys. That’s a terrific football team, and we know it. Our defense held our own against these guys.”

DK Metcalf and fellow wide receivers defiantly warmed up before the game shirtless, to defy the frigid air.

Yet the Seahawks (7-8) lost for the fifth time in six games since being 6-3 and the surprise of the NFL atop the NFC West.

That feels like years ago.

The season isn’t over for Seattle. It only looks like it.

The Seahawks will need to win their final two games, at home against the New York Jets (7-8) New Year’s Day and the Los Angeles Rams (4-10) the week after then hope Washington (7-6-1) falters.

Missed chances galore

Geno Smith’s interception in the end zone on a miscommunication with receiver Marquise Goodwin midway through the fourth quarter helped doom Seattle on a rare day Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs offense looked like mortals.

With Seattle driving again down 17-3, Goodwin broke his route off toward the sidelines, still in the field of play. Smith, named this past week to his first Pro Bowl, threw deeper into the end zone — to only Kansas City’s Juan Thornhill for Smith’s ninth interception this season.

“That’s not the wrong play to make. Just got to get the ball up and down before the (safety) gets there,” Carroll said.

Smith said he was at fault, that Goodwin ran the route he should have.

“Marquise did what he was supposed to do. He felt the coverage and broke it to where he thinks he would be open,” Smith said. “I put it in the wrong spot, and gave the safety the chance to make that play.

“That’s completely on me and not on Marquise. I’ve got to correct that and make sure that stuff doesn’t happen.”

Smith completed 25 of 40 passes for 215 yards with the key interception. He threw a touchdown pass to Noah Fant with just over 2 minutes left.

A more decisive Kenneth Walker

Rookie running back Kenneth Walker returned from missing Seattle’s loss against San Francisco last week because of an ankle injury, then back spasms, to break loose in the second half. He had 107 yards on 26 rushes.

Even though Carroll said Walker was playing through more ankle issues, the second-round draft choice said he was running more decisively in the second half.

Walker ditched many of his lateral cuts and had 91 of his 107 yards after halftime.

“Everyone was telling me to run straight and be more decisive,” Walker said, who admitted sometimes he tries to “make something happen.”

The Seahawks had four chances to get back into the game after receiving the second-half kickoff. But Walker went nowhere on a run, Smith got pressured by the Chiefs into a throwaway and Smith threw errantly to open Goodwin down the middle past midfield on third and 6. The quarterback had no defender in front of him to Goodwin, about 20 yards down the field.

“If I just run myself, who knows how many yards I could get?” Smith said.

At that point Smith, the NFL’s leader in completion rate all season, was just 10 for 20 passing for 81 yards and Seattle was just 1 for 8 on third downs. Michael Dickson punted for the fifth time in seven possessions. The Seahawks stayed down 17-3.

Seattle’s defense got a stop when Kansas City All-Pro tight end Travis Kelce dropped a third-down pass with fill-in safety Johnathan Abram tightly covering.

On the Seahawks’ ensuing possession, Carroll uncharacteristically had the offense go for it on fourth down. Twice.

Carroll said he wasn’t sure his defense, recently shredded by Carolina and Las Vegas, would contain Mahomes and the Chiefs’ high-powered offense. So Seattle touchdowns, not field goals, were Carroll’s thinking.

Smith sneaked for the first down on fourth and 1. On fourth and 3, instead of a try at a 50-plus-yard field goal in 1-degree wind chill to make it a 17-6 game, Carroll and offensive coordinator Shane Waldron had Smith throw short. Tight end Colby Parkinson caught the ball and was tackled well short of the line to gain, and wide receiver Penny Hart failed to pick off a Chiefs defender to free Parkinson in the left flat. Officials penalized Hart for the pick and offensive pass interference on the turnover on downs.

The Seahawks had a third chance to cut into the 17-3 lead after stopping the Chiefs again. But a false-start penalty on fill-in right tackle Stone Forsythe, playing for injured rookie Abe Lucas, set Seattle behind on a series of downs inside Kansas City’s 40-yard line.

Walker got stopped on a third-and-8 run. On fourth and 8, Laquon Treadwell, signed from the practice squad to the active roster after Tyler Lockett had hand surgery last week, bowed his out route that had been past the line to gain. He caught Smith’s throw short of it. Chiefs cornerback Trent McDuffie tackled Treadwell immediately for another turnover on downs.

Seattle stayed behind 17-3 into the fourth quarter.

In retrospect, had Carroll characteristically chosen field goals with Pro Bowl kicker Jason Myers (25 for 26 entering Saturday) in the cold on each of those fourth downs, the Seahawks could have been in a one-score game, 17-9, with 12 minutes left.

“It’s in respect to them, the offense they have and the players they have,” Carroll said. “I wasn’t sure that we would hold them down as well as we did. Our defense got better in the second half...Knowing what they are capable of, that’s what dictated the decision.

“I’m not saying it’s right. That’s just what I went for. You guys can say whatever you want about it.”

Playoff picture

The bigger picture: The Seahawks can still make the playoffs by winning their final two games and getting help

Washington, the seventh of seven NFC playoff seeds entering Saturday, was playing at San Francisco later in the day. The Commanders host Cleveland and Dallas to end the season.

Detroit had won six of seven entering Saturday to be at Seattle’s heels at 7-7. But the Lions lost 37-23 at Carolina.

“It could turn out...that these last two games are enormous for us, obviously,” Carroll said.

“Give us a chance to be in it to the very end.”

Third and way too longs

The running game started well. Walker’s first carry went for 18 yards. But it was negated by DK Metcalf’s seventh penalty this season, for holding outside to create Walker’s gain around left end.

Only offensive linemen, defensive linemen and defensive backs have more penalties in the NFL this season than the seven accepted flags on Metcalf.

Walker returned from an ankle injury, back spasms and a missed game last week to grind. He had just 10 yards on his first eight rushes--not including the first-play 18-yard run negated by Metcalf’s penalty.

That’s why the Seahawks had third and 10, third and 10, third and 8, third and 11, third and 11 in the first half.

That, like much else Saturday, was a losing proposition. Seattle was 1 for its first 11 on third downs.

The Seahawks’ first third and 11 came after center Austin Blythe was oddly called for a false-start penalty that drew former Seahawk Frank Clark offsides.

Six Seahawks blocking on the next snap couldn’t keep the four-man Chiefs pass rush from sacking Smith after Blythe’s penalty. Smith landed on both knees into the frozen ground. Seattle’s medical staff came out and eventually the quarterback slowly walked to the sideline.

Backup Drew Lock briefly began warming up on the sidelines, but Smith shooed off everyone on the sideline and returned for the Seahawks’ next offensive possession. Walker converted on a third-and-1 run for the Seahawks’ initial first down of the game, midway through the second quarter.

At the time, the total yards were Chiefs 128, Seahawks 28.

A 1-yard loss on an unblocked run by Walker created yet another third and long, third and 11, and another punt by Dickson.

Defense’s issues continue

The Seahawks’ defense began this game as so many others have gone. Seattle failed to set the edge on run defense. The Chiefs, with rookie Isiah Pacheco as the lead back and Mahomes scrambling, were averaging more than 5 yards per carry in the first quarter. That’s when wide receiver Kadarius Toney scored on an easy, 8-yard run on a fly sweep around contain man Bruce Irvin.

Irvin, a pass rusher, didn’t re-sign at age 35 in the middle of this season for his third Seahawks go-round to set edges in run defense. Yet because of Darrell Taylor being unable to plus coaches apparently not trusting rookie Boye Mafe to try it, Irvin was the Seahawk who failed to set the right edge of the run defense as running back Jerick McKinnon blocked him out of Toney’s fly sweep around him for the game’s first score.

Irvin helped extend that Chiefs scoring drive by jumping offsides and gifting Kansas City a first down.

By the second quarter, Mafe was at outside linebacker on first downs against the run. He tackled Pacheco on a second-down run as part of Seattle’s three and out that ended the opening quarter.

Kansas City had ten of the game’s first 11 first downs, 56 of the game’s first 66 rushing yards.

Ryan Neal missed

The Seahawks missed Ryan Neal’s sure tackling on third downs. And his bruised knee that kept him out Saturday really hurt Seattle on Kansas City’s drive to its second touchdown.

On third and 5 from the Seahawks 36, Neal’s fill-in safety Teez Tabor, a midseason pickup off Atlanta’s practice squad, tried to cover Kelce.

From there, Patrick Mahomes threw a pass in the right flat to McKinnon, with Brooks walled off in traffic inside. Cornerback Michael Jackson missed the tackle on McKinnon in the open field. That was Seattle’s only chance to prevent the touchdown and a 14-0 deficit.

Hurry-up works

Smith was asked last week if he’d like to go more hurry-up to get the Seahawks’ offense productive.

The quarterback said no, the need is to stay in normal plan and framework.

Yet hurry-up was the only time Seattle was productive at all in the first half Saturday. Ninety of its 98 offensive yards and its only three points came in the 2-minute offense to end the second quarter.

A penalty got the Seahawks going. Smith got sacked on yet another third and long, third and 8, but Chiefs cornerback Joshua Williams was called for holding and holding Goodwin and not letting go. That gifted Seattle a first down.

Smith then threw his best pass, perfectly over the defender and onto Metcalf’s hands along the left sideline for a 32-yard gain.

Smith and the Seahawks got lucky on two throws to end the half. Smith unwisely threw into double coverage to Metcalf in the end zone and nearly had the pass intercepted. But L’Jarius Sneed was called for hands illegally to Metcalf’s face on his jam attempt off the snap at the line of scrimmage.

With 5 seconds and no time outs left in the half, Carroll and Waldron trusted Smith to get a third-down pass out quickly enough to save a chance for at least a field goal. Smith looked left, then looked right and threw incomplete into the end zone barely — one second — before the first-half clock expired.

Jason Myers kicked a 22-yard field goal to send the Seahawks into halftime down 17-3.

Abe Lucas injured

Starting right tackle Abe Lucas injured his thigh on top of his previously injured elbow. The rookie third-round draft choice missed his first snaps of the season, in the third quarter.

Carroll said Lucas’ elbow “gave out a little bit.”

“He was OK to play. He could have played. We felt, let’s get him out of there and rest him, because we didn’t really want to tax him too much.”

Stone Forsythe, a 2021 draft choice, replaced Lucas. Forsythe jumped early for a false-start penalty in the third quarter

Goodwin left the game with the aggravated wrist injury but returned.

Third-down running back and special teams mainstay Travis Homer left with an ankle injury. Carroll said it was a sprain.

The coach said rookie safety Joey Blount, a mainstay on special teams, had his knee cap pop out.