Seahawks shut down Chiefs, get back on track with 20-3 win

SEATTLE — So much for the demise of the Seattle Seahawks.

After two losses in five days led to some hard talks among the Seahawks and a lot of talk from the outside that their hopes of winning another Super Bowl might already be over, they responded with their best effort of the season to beat the previously unbeaten Kansas City Chiefs, 20-3.

The win, coupled with a 29-20 loss by the San Francisco 49ers (6-1) earlier Sunday at Atlanta, got the Seahawks — who are 4-3 — right back in the NFC West race.

Maybe more importantly, the Seahawks made a statement about the kind of team they can still be, especially when they aren’t committing self-inflicted errors.

The Seahawks held a Kansas City offense that came into the game averaging 6.7 yards per play — best in the NFL — to just 213 yards.

That included holding former teammate Kenneth Walker III — who came into the game averaging 133 yards per game and 6.3 per carry — to just 36 yards on 14 carries, 2.6 yards per carry.

That continued the Seahawks’ streak of holding opposing rushers under 100 yards to 36 games and more than two calendar years.

It was only the fourth time a team quarterbacked by Patrick Mahomes was held under 10 points and only the second time they were held to three points.

Offensively, the Seahawks appeared to find a template for a successful attack to address their running game woes — a lot of quick passes by Sam Darnold and some well-timed deep shots to Jaxon Smith-Njigba on the rare times the Chiefs guarded him with just one defender.

Smith-Njigba continued his historic pace to the season with nine catches for 150 yards, including six for 129 yards and a touchdown in the first half.

Darnold was efficient save for one pass — an interception in the end zone in the final seconds of the first half when he was pressured and tried to hit Smith-Njigba in the back of the end zone.

Otherwise, Darnold well executed the scheme of first-year offensive coordinator Brian Fleury, who after seeing Darold get hit 17 times in a loss to Denver, called for a lot of passes in which Darnold had little time to do anything but throw quickly to a receiver close to the line of scrimmage.

Darnold completed 20 of 28 passes for 257 yards and a touchdown.

Kansas City’s last gasp to make it a game ended when Harrison Butker missed a 45-yard field goal with 8:33 remaining in the game, keeping the Seahawks ahead 13-3.

The Seahawks moved deliberately down the field to the Kansas City 21 where on a third-and-4 play Emanuel Wilson burst over the left side for a 21-yard TD to put the Seahawks ahead 20-3 with 3:47 remaining and end the suspense. Wilson had 100 yards on 24 carries.

The Seahawks appeared on the verge of taking a commanding 17-0 lead at halftime when Darnold hit Smith-Njigba for a 28-yard gain to the 2-yard line with 23 seconds remaining, the second long reception he had made when matched up against Kansas City rookie cornerback Mansoor Delane.

But after George Holani was dropped for a 1-yard loss, Darnold dropped back and after being pressured tried to hit Smith-Njigba in the back of the end zone.

Instead, the off-target pass fell into the hands of Kansas City cornerback Nohl Williams, who found some room and returned it to the Seattle 44, appearing briefly as if he might be able to turn it into a pick-six before Seahawks left tackle Charles Cross tracked him down.

Walker gained four on the next play but that was not enough for Butker, whose attempt in the north end zone came up short.

That kept the Seahawks ahead by two possessions.

But the wild turn of events kept the Chiefs in the game.

On the Seahawks’ previous possession before the pick, Smith-Njigba put the Seahawks ahead 10-0 with a 28-yard TD down the right side in man coverage on Delane.

The Seahawks faced a third-and-9 on the play and the Chiefs brought the house. But Darnold noticed the favorable matchup for JSN and got just enough time to loft a pass to JSN, who had gotten a sliver of separation to make the catch and step just over the goal line (the TD was approved after a review).

The Seahawks outgained the Chiefs 251-96 in the first half, converted 7 of 9 third downs while holding Kansas City without a third-down conversion in four attempts and holding the Chiefs to 4.0 per play.

They also held Walker to a mostly ineffectual 28 yards rushing on nine attempts.

The Seahawks took a 13-0 lead with 8:09 remaining in the third quarter on a 35-yard field goal by Jason Myers. That capped another time-consuming drive of 57 yards in 13 plays, taking 6:51.

At that point in the game, the Seahawks had outgained the Chiefs 313-96, held the ball for 25:27 to Kansas City’s 11:24 and had 18 first downs to Kansas City’s 5.

But the Darnold end zone pick and twice having to settle for Myers field goals on drives that moved inside the Kansas City 20 meant the Chiefs were still in the game.

The Chiefs went for it on fourth-and-1 on their own 44 with just under six minutes remaining in the third quarter and a Mahomes pass to Worthy of 2-yards kept the drive alive.

The Chiefs converted their first third down of the game with 4:35 remaining on an 18-yard Mahomes pass to Travis Kelce.

The Seahawks got a stop when Derrick Hall forced a Mahomes fumble on third down recovered by the Chiefs, forcing Butker to make a 50-yard field goal to make it 13-3.

The Seahawks scored first on a 25-yard field goal by Myers with 8:22 to play in the second quarter. The field goal capped a 15-play, 86-yard drive in 8:26 in which they gained 96 yards because of two penalties.

The Seahawks converted three third downs of seven yards or longer to chip its way down the field.

For a moment, they thought they had a TD on a 20-yard run by Velus Jones Jr. down the home sideline. But his right foot just touched the out of bounds line at the 9.

The Seahawks couldn’t move it from there and had to settle for Myers’ field goal.

There was no score in the first quarter, though there was plenty of anticipation by Seahawks fans to see how Walker would do against his former team.

Walker got the ball on Kansas City’s first play, a short pass that he turned into a 6-yard gain.

His first carry came on the third play, a rush up the middle for two yards.

While the Chiefs drove into Seahawks territory each of the first two times it had the ball, both drives ended in punts. Walker had 17 yards on six carries in the first quarter with a long of seven.

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