Grey Zabel should have a bright future for the Seattle Seahawks, but what happened in Week 8 against the Chicago Bears was ugly. Zabel wasn't ready to succeed, but how could he be?
Chicago pummeled Seattle 34-17 , the Seahawks' worst loss in two years, and the game didn't feel even that close. Quarterback Sam Darnold was under duress early and often, and much of that was because Zabel was starting at right guard for the first time. It showed.
The move was necessary after the team had acquired Quenton Nelson via trade after Week 7, and asking Nelson to flip to the right side after spending his excellent career on the left side would have been foolish. Zabel was a first-round pick in 2025, though, so he wasn't going to be benched either.
Instead, longtime RG starter Anthony Bradford was benched in place of Zabel. In hindsight, that shouldn't have happened, at least not in Week 8. Maybe Week 9, but not immediately.
The issue is that offensive lines take time to gel and perfect lines of communication. What Seattle was asking of its revamped group, one that was missing left tackle Charles Cross, was to have 60 percent of the group -- the parts new to the team or not used to playing their positions consistently -- play as if they had been together for more than a handful of days.
It proved to be an impossible task against a Bears front that had recently acquired Jeffery Simmons, greatly improving his new team. It is far easier for a defensive lineman to have an immediate impact than an offensive lineman. O-lines work as a group. It only takes one elite D-lineman to wreck any plans for success. That's what Simmons did.
Meanwhile, Zabel looked lost on the right side. He allowed a sack and was overpowered when trying to pass-protect or run-block. He definitely has a lot of strength, but his indecisiveness was obvious.
What the Seattle Seahawks should have done, since they already had Quenton Nelson starting for the first time in the Pacific Northwest and Josh Jones filling in for Cross, was to play Bradford at right guard, simply for better cohesion.
Bradford isn't better than Grey Zabel , but he does know right guard better. Seattle should have started Nelson and Josh, allowed the rest of the line to acclimate for a week, and then started Zabel in Week 9.
Instead, the result was ugly. Chicago played with more juice and punished the Seahawks' offensive line. The future should be better. Week 9 was forgettable.
This article was originally published on www.12thmanrising.com as Seahawks' absurd loss to Bears started with a Grey Zabel gamble .
