Bears' D must bear down

SEATTLE - Failure to get off the field when they had the Seahawks in third-down situations was a problem that almost every Bears defender mentioned Friday night.

The first unit allowed Seattle to convert all 7 of its third-down opportunities in the first half, and the Seahawks were 10 of 14 for the game.

"We've got plenty of things we have to correct," linebacker Lance Briggs said. "If one thing stood out, it's probably third down. Getting off the field on third down is very important. We got ourselves in a lot of third-down situations and didn't get of the field. They had extended drives. It's hard to be successful when you're constantly allowing 16-play drives."

The Seahawks' second touchdown drive covered 89 yards on 14 plays, and their third went 83 yards on 11 plays.

On the 89-yard drive, the Seahawks converted a third-and-4 when Bears tackle Jeremiah Ratliff was flagged for encroachment. On third-and-2, running back Christine Michael gained 3 yards and on third-and-goal from the 7, quarterback Russell Wilson ran for a score.

On the 83-yard drive, Robert Turbin picked up 2 yards on a third-and-1, and on third-and-10 Wilson threw a 12-yard TD pass to Jermaine Kearse.

"We just have to make the plays," Briggs said. "There were times we were in position to make plays. (Give a) lot of credit to Russell Wilson for extending some of those drives with his feet."

On the 89-yard drive Briggs' late hit on Wilson allowed Seattle to convert a second-and-19.

"He went to slide," Briggs said. "I was running full speed, I tried to avoid him, I thought I avoided him enough, but the referee didn't think so. It is what it is."

It still hurts:

Chalking up a 34-6 defeat to it just being a preseason game only goes so far.

"It's a preseason game, and we have the luxury of it not really counting," center Roberto Garza said. "But you don't want to go out there and perform like that. We have to go out there and do our jobs, and we didn't do that."

The Bears did average a preseason-best 3.9 yards per carry, but they ran it just 13 times (for 51 yards), so it wasn't much consolation.

"With the scoreboard being what it (was), it's hard to take anything away from that," Garza said. "We've got a lot of thing to get better at, so that's one of them. We haven't done a good enough job."

Not so special:

Special teams suffered through another abysmal night against the Seahawks, who set up 2 TD drives with a 46-yard kickoff return and a 59-yard punt return.

The Bears' return game continued to sputter, especially the kickoff-return phase.

The Bears started drives at their own 19-, 17-, 20- and 22-yard lines in the first half after kickoffs. In order, Micheal Spurlock had an 18-yard return, Darius Reynaud picked up 21 yards and then downed a kick in the end zone before Senorise Perry provided a glimmer of hope, returning 27 yards to the 22 and 24 yards to the 19.

Special teams coordinator Joe DeCamillis had hoped to get a good look at wide receiver Chris Williams as a returner Friday night. The 5-foot-8, 175-pound speedster dressed, but his injured hamstring tightened during pregame and kept him sidelined.

Confidence game:

Quarterback Jay Cutler was surprised by the offense's inability to sustain a drive all night, but he said they'd get past it.

"Any time you go out there early on and it doesn't go the way that you wanted, you're going to be a little bit surprised," Cutler said. "But we're not going to lose our confidence offensively. Our guys handled themselves well. We were never shell-shocked out there. We handled the noise well. We just missed a few big plays out there that I think could have changed the game for us."