SEATTLE — After Jason Myers’ second-quarter extra-point attempt squirted wide of the left upright, two words comically appeared on Lumen Field’s fleet of oversized video boards:

OH BOY!

It was a disastrously timed advertisement for Oberto Specialty Meats — founded in Seattle, headquartered in Kent and best known for its beef jerky.

It was also an appropriate response to the Seahawks’ prime-time stinker.

Because Seattle’s 34-17 loss to the Chicago Bears Monday was a deflating dud in all three phases. The Seahawks’ offense managed just 252 total yards — as a replenished running game still struggled, Jaxon Smith-Njigba remained the only reliable threat and left guard Quenton Nelson’s addition made minimal impact. Mike Macdonald’s defense was uncharacteristically outdueled by Bears coach Ben Johnson, quarterback Caleb Williams and Co. Seattle’s special teams also sputtered — with Myers’ missed extra point, a blocked field goal and a calamitous personal foul on defensive lineman Mike Morris in kickoff coverage.

These Seahawks strive for “complementary football,” three phases succeeding in unison.

This was the opposite of that, a comprehensive clobbering Macdonald has rarely endured.

Because before Monday, Seattle lost three games this season by eight total points. Likewise, the Seahawks’ three losses in 2025 came by an average of three points apiece. Macdonald’s team hadn’t lost by more than one score since 2024.

Until Monday.

Until this resounding reality check.

Until the addition of Nelson and the returns of Zach Charbonnet and Jadarian Price resulted in a measly, unconvincing 61 rushing yards by Seahawks running backs. Until Seattle’s offense went 1 for 11 on third down and allowed three sacks, regressing after last week’s encouraging win over Kansas City. Until Seattle’s defense produced a single sack of its own, while continuing to concerningly crater in the red zone. Until the Bears began Monday’s game with a mammoth 17-play, 80-yard, nearly nine-minute statement touchdown march, the most plays Seattle has surrendered in a drive since 2016.

If anyone thought the emphatic Chiefs win, the Nelson trade and the refreshed running backs room would kickstart another double-digit winning streak … OH BOY!

Guess again.

The Seahawks are 4-4, with work to do, with a clock ticking louder by the loss, and without a dependable identity.

“I would say a lesser team would be really frustrated, pointing fingers, turning on each other,” said Seahawks safety Julian Love, who turned in seven tackles. “I think the guys in the room, or at least me, (think) there’s so much out there for us. We play a good brand of football. Teams know what we’re about. I think we play tough. We’re connected. But we’re still chasing efficiency on both sides of the ball and (special) teams. We know there’s so much more for us to be. It’s exciting because we have a bunch more games to go out and prove that.

“I think we’re still in our identity-finding mode. We want to get this thing moving and grooving, in the way you guys have seen it before, in the way we know it’s supposed to look.”

It’s alarming to hear, after half a season, that the 2026 Seahawks’ identity remains in flux. But the product supports that assertion.

After all, if you subtract Smith-Njigba, what does coordinator Brian Fleury’s offense do consistently well? What has to happen for Darnold, who threw for 188 yards with two touchdowns and an interception, to rediscover a sustainable rhythm? How quickly can Nelson gel with an underperforming offensive line? Can this defense be as dependably dominant as it was a year ago, especially as lineman and leader Leonard Williams left with a second-half stinger? Are Seattle’s special teams still a separator, given that they were anything but Monday?

Is complementary football a catchphrase, or something this team can consistently attain?

“You look at all the stats, the things that happen in terms of playing complementary football. We can rattle them off if you want,” Macdonald said. “But they made it happen and we didn’t. It’s a team effort. We lost as a team. In all three phases, we can have better plans. We can coach it better, we can prepare our players better and we can play better.”

Ultimately, players — multiple — have to make plays. At halftime, Smith-Njigba boasted four catches for 92 yards and a 43-yard touchdown.

His teammates had three catches for 2 total yards.

“Jax is a great player. He’s going to command targets,” said wide receiver Cooper Kupp, who added a 7-yard second-half score. “He’s one of, if not the best receivers in the league right now.

“We all have a part in it. If he’s open, the ball’s going to go his way. That’s going to be what it is. We have to find ways to compete, and really compete without the ball as well. When the ball does come your way, you have to make a play.”

The Seahawks didn’t make enough plays in any phase, which should create concerns about this team’s ceiling. Of course, credit the 6-2 Bears, who were obviously aided by the trade for juggernaut defensive lineman Jeffery Simmons. But Seattle’s performance can be summarized with two words, which are not “complementary football.”

Oh boy, indeed.

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