After a 3-0 start to the season, the Seattle Seahawks came crashing down to earth after a 42-29 loss to the Detroit Lions on Monday night.
The offense mostly held up its end of the bargain, racking up 516 total yards and a whopping 38 first downs. However, the injured defense — which began the game down four starters and eventually lost a fifth — struggled against a strong Lions offense, allowing nearly as many points as in the first three games combined. Obviously, the loss doesn't fall entirely on the defense, but the Lions were simply the better team throughout the night.
Against one of the NFL's best teams, the Seahawks showed that they still have a ways to go to join that club.
“I wouldn’t say it’s a litmus test, it just shows us we’re not the team that we need to be at this point," head coach Mike Macdonald said after the game. "I mean, that’s just – that’s what it is. Just wasn’t good enough. They did what they did to win the game, they did a great job, they had a great plan, and we came up short. So, it’s how do we move forward right now as a football team and take the next step because we’ve got a short week coming up and there’s urgency – I mean, there’s always an urgency, but we’ve got to go to work here over the next few days and make this right.”
Despite the loss, it's important to remember that this is just the fourth game of Macdonald's tenure. Seattle's long-term future still looks very bright, and one loss isn't enough to derail that outlook. The defense is also far from full-strength.
As far as this season is concerned, the Seahawks still have all their goals in front of them, and they're taking it one game at a time.
"We’re 3-1, that’s what it says, and now we’ve got to get on to the next one," Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith said. "That’s just football, that’s NFL football. I think the only team that went undefeated was the ’72 Dolphins, so we’re just trying to go out there and win every game we can. Today we didn’t get it done, but that’s why we’ve got next week, so we’re going to improve and get back on it and get ready for next week.”
