Not worth the wait: Seahawks fall to Rams in COVID-19-delayed game, assured of first losing season since 2011

The Seahawks gave it their best shot Tuesday night in Inglewood, California, in a game that from the start felt overshadowed by the postponement for two days due to the Rams’ COVID-19 issues.

For three quarters they held an explosive Rams offense to 10 points. Through three quarters, an offense missing leading receiver Tyler Lockett for the first time in five years took advantage of its best two scoring chances to forge a tie game.

But ultimately, the Seahawks (5-9) just weren’t good enough, falling 20-10, which also feels like a somewhat fitting epitaph for a team that’s season essentially ended in the stadium where the Super Bowl will be held in two months – but not in the Super Bowl itself, as was the team’s goal when training camp began in July.

True, the Seahawks were not helped by a few dubious penalty calls that didn’t go their way in the fourth quarter.

And true, the Seahawks may always wonder what would have happened had the game been played as scheduled Sunday.

But the times the Seahawks – or the refs, they might argue – gave the Rams an inch, Los Angeles took it.

The loss assures Seattle of its first losing season since 2011, the year before quarterback Russell Wilson arrived.

And though the Seahawks are not officially eliminated from the playoffs, they logically are, given less than a 0.1% chance by FiveThirtyEight.com, leaving them truly playing for pride in their final three games of the regular season.

The Rams outgained the Seahawks 332-214, had almost twice as many first downs (20-13), and held the ball for 35:06, which all proved too much to overcome, especially once a few flags fell in their disfavor.

The season essentially ended when Seattle went for it on a fourth-and-6 play at midfield with 3:37 left, down 17-10.

Wilson lofted a pass down the left side to running back DeeJay Dallas about 20 yards downfield.

Dallas had a step on Rams linebacker Ernest Jones, but the ball hit Jones in the back for an incompletion. Dallas angrily called for a pass-interference penalty, after Jones appeared to have his arms wrapped around Dallas.

But no flag was thrown, which led Dallas to leap in protest and then kick the football, which eventually led to a flag – only this time, on Dallas for unsportsmanlike conduct.

That gave the ball to the Rams at the Seattle 35-yard line with 3:21 left and essentially ended the game. Los Angeles then moved in position for a Matt Gay field goal that made it 20-10 with 1:51 to play, allowing the Rams to move to 10-4 and into first place in the NFC West.

The Seahawks got the ball one last time, but a desperate Wilson pass to DK Metcalf in the end zone was intercepted by former Husky Taylor Rapp.

“We played really hard tonight and we were on it and had a chance to play with these guys throughout,” Carroll said. “And there were some opportunities in there that we needed to go the other way and they didn’t for one reason or another and there’s a couple plays we could have made.”

Seattle fell to 5-9 and in last place, a year after the Seahawks won the division at 12-4, having secured the clinching win against the Rams in Seattle.

It leaves Seattle with the unfamiliar feeling of figuring out what to play for the rest of the way, beginning with a Sunday afternoon game against Chicago on what is now a tight turnaround.

But Carroll insisted motivation won’t be an issue.

“We’ll play it for the cause of loving this game and loving the guys that are in this locker room with us and playing for one another,” Carroll said.

The score was tied at 3 at halftime before Seattle took the lead after taking the second-half kickoff and moving 75 yards on 11 plays, the score coming on a 4-yard run by Dallas to make it 10-3 with 9:23 to play in the third quarter.

The drive was almost perfectly balanced. The Seahawks had 39 yards rushing on seven attempts (25 on four by Dallas), and Wilson was 3 of 4 for 46 yards, including a 25-yard catch-and-run by Freddie Swain.

But the Rams tied it up with a quick 86-yard drive in six plays keyed by a 39-yard run by Sony Michel and a 32-yard Cooper Kupp reception. Kupp’s 6-yard catch from Stafford tied it at 10 with 6:31 to play in the third quarter, the first of his two touchdowns.

The drive was kick-started when Bless Austin, making his first start of the season at right cornerback, was called for defensive holding on Kupp on a third-and-12 play that initially appeared to be stopped on the first play of the fourth quarter.

Given life, the Rams quickly took advantage, moving 85 yards in the next six plays to take the lead, with the touchdown coming on a 29-yard pass from Stafford to Kupp with 10:48 left to play.

Stafford was 4 of 4 for 69 yards on the drive, while Kupp finished with 136 yards on nine receptions.

On its next drive, Seattle got a third down on an interference penalty on Jalen Ramsey against Metcalf near midfield.

But the Seahawks couldn’t take advantage, as a sack set up a third-and-14. And on third down a Wilson pass to a momentarily open Metcalf hung up just long enough to allow Ramsey to bat it away.

The Rams took over at their 13 but went three-and-out, with a Carlos Dunlap sack on third down stopping the drive.

Seattle took over at its 46 and had a third-and-1 at the 45.

But a false start on Rashaad Penny on a third-and-1 made it third-and-6 and set up the ill-fated, if controversial, fourth-down play two plays later.

The first half of the game looked like two teams that spent the week dealing with COVID-19-related distractions, ending in a 3-3 tie.

The Rams moved the ball on each of their possessions, which each got to the Seattle 41 or closer.

But the Seattle defense held true to its bend-but-don’t-break strategy in the first half, holding the Rams every time it mattered,

Most key was stopping Los Angeles when the Rams went for it on fourth-and-2 at the Seattle 32 later in the first half.

A pass to Kupp, was broken up by linebacker Jordyn Brooks, allowing the Seahawks to take over at the 32 with 1:56 left leaving the score at 3-0.

Seattle, which until then had just two first downs, went up-tempo and used an improvised Wilson pass of 34 yards to tight and Gerald Everett to get to the Rams 14.

The drive stalled there, but Jason Myers kicked a 39-yard field goal with 10 seconds left to tie it.

The Rams outgained Seattle 153-79 and held the Seahawks to just 15 yards rushing on four carries while holding the ball for 21 minutes to Seattle’s nine.

The Rams’ only score of the first drive came following their first possession when Gay kicked a 55-yard field goal.

Two Rams penalties initially had helped force the Rams to punt.

But a penalty by defensive end Alton Robinson for running into punter Johnny Hekker compelled the Rams to change course and try a field goal, and Gay converted.

Another Rams drive that reached Seattle’s 31 ended when Quandre Diggs picked off a Stafford pass at the 6.

The Seahawks had two first-half sacks of Stafford, who had been sacked just 20 times in 13 games before Tuesday night.