The Chargers' secondary went in thin, and the game made it worse. Derwin James Jr. was out with his hamstring, and Donte Jackson aggravated his own hamstring during the game and was listed questionable to return. Seattle aimed right at it. Jaxon Smith-Njigba was already up to 4 catches for 58 yards in the second quarter, picking up where his 10-catch, 128-yard day in Washington left off. Seattle went into halftime up 20-6, which is about how the preview's 'passing and ball security' matchup was always going to look if Herbert's side lost both.
The money saw it coming. Seattle's moneyline got much shorter during the week, and the game followed the price for 3 quarters. The Seahawks scored 7 in the 1st, 13 in the 2nd and 10 in the 3rd, and the Chargers answered with 2 field goals and a touchdown. Going into the 4th it was 30-13 and the game was effectively over.
Then Seattle stopped scoring. The Seahawks got shut out in the 4th quarter while the Chargers put up 10, and a 17-point game finished as a 7-point game. That's a respectable final score, but the 4th quarter cost the Chargers a lot. Joe Alt (neck) was ruled out for the rest of the game, Rashawn Slater (ankle) was questionable to return, and Trevor Penning (head) left in the 4th. That's 3 offensive linemen hurt in 1 afternoon, on a line that was already missing Kayode Awosika. Ladd McConkey, who the preview said was likely to play through his foot injury, did play, then got ruled out for the rest of the game with that same foot.
Seattle also has things to fix. The Seahawks have now blown a big afternoon in 2 straight weeks. Against Washington it cost them the game. This time a 30-13 cushion was enough. With Jadarian Price on IR and Zach Charbonnet out, the backfield was down to Emanuel Wilson and depth signed up from the practice squad, so Darnold carried the offense again. Leonard Williams also showed up on the in-game injury list as questionable. Still, after the Washington loss ended a 12-game winning streak, Seattle answered right away and is 3-1.
The Chargers are 0-4, and every loss has followed the same pattern. They've been close enough to make it look competitive and never close enough to win. After 5 takeaways at Buffalo, the defense got beaten through the air by a Seattle team that took advantage of every hole in the secondary. The 23 points are a season high, but most of them came after the game was decided, and they'll head into next week without knowing how many of their tackles are healthy.