Bears vs. Seahawks Fantasy Football Worksheet, Week 8

The Worksheet, a comprehensive fantasy football preview by Rich Hribar, breaks down everything you need to know about the Bears vs. Seahawks Week 8 matchup on Monday Night Football.

Find a breakdown of every Week 8 NFL game in our Worksheet Hub.

Trust = spike production for that player

Bears vs. Seahawks Fantasy Quarterback Preview

Caleb Williams

Williams was sharp again on Thursday night, completing 22 of 33 (66.7%) passes for 308 yards (9.3 Y/A) with 2 touchdowns.

He added 18 rushing yards in a QB7 (22.1 points) scoring week.

Williams has thrown for 300 yards in each game since returning to the lineup.

Over his four-game sample this season, Williams is second in the NFL in completion rate (71%) and fourth in yards per pass attempt (8.2).

27.3% of his dropbacks have produced 1.0 EPA or more, sixth in the league.

This will be a great litmus test for where this offense stands.

Seattle has allowed two QB1 scoring weeks at home since last season began.

This year, they have faced Drake Maye (QB27), Justin Herbert (QB28), Brock Purdy (QB16), and Patrick Mahomes (QB26) at home.

To kick off the season, the Seahawks allow a league-low 5.2 yards per pass attempt and 8.3 yards per completion.

The most yards per pass attempt they have allowed in a game this season is 6.5 to Brock Purdy, who averages 8.3 Y/A for the season.

They haven't allowed a passer to throw for 200 yards yet.

They are allowing 8.9 passing points per game (2nd).

For those reasons, we're knocking Williams down to QB2 status this week.

He has faced Mike Macdonald once, in his rookie year.

Williams completed 16 of 28 passes (57.1%) for 122 yards (4.4 Y/A) with an interception in that game.

Williams has grown leaps and bounds since then, and he has Ben Johnson as an added out here.

If there is an added path for Williams to accrue fantasy points, it is through his legs.

The Seahawks allowed Maye 47 rushing yards and Herbert 40 rushing yards.

Sam Darnold (TRUST)

Darnold did not light up the box score on Sunday night, but he played an effective game, setting season highs in completion rate (71.4%) and yards per pass attempt (9.2) in a tough matchup with the Chiefs.

The only hiccup was a red-zone interception at the end of the first half.

Turnovers have been a problem for Darnold this season.

He has thrown 8 interceptions since returning in Week 3.

Darnold has not had a QB1 scoring week since that Week 3 game, but this is a solid spot to chase another one.

Seattle is a home favorite with a 25-point team total.

The Bears are allowing a league-high 8.7 yards per pass attempt and 13.4 yards per completion.

They have allowed a 5.7% touchdown rate (25th).

On throws 20 or more yards downfield, the Bears have allowed a league-high 51.9% completion rate and an 18.5% touchdown rate (31st).

They are 30th in passing points allowed per attempt (0.57), but they have saved some face since they have only seen 27.7 pass attempts per game, the fewest in the league.

Part of that is because they allow a lot of efficiency.

The other element is that they have held the football from opponents more than anyone in the league.

The Bears lead the NFL in plays per game and allow the fewest plays per game defensively.

But Seattle doesn't let opponents hold the ball because they don't allow consistent success.

They rank fifth in opponent plays per game because they make it hard to sustain drives.

If Chicago gives up the football more here, their volatile pass defense will be on the field more.

The Bears not only struggled downfield, but they have issues slowing down opponents who play with heavy personnel.

Chicago is allowing a league-high 80.4% completion rate and 13.5 yards per pass attempt against 2+TE sets.

Seattle throws out of 2+TE sets on 25.2% of their passes (8th).

Darnold was 6 of 6 for 9.7 Y/A on those sets Sunday night against the Chiefs.

This falls apart if the Bears can consistently disrupt Darnold.

Chicago is eighth in blitz rate (37.9%) and fifth in pressure rate on blitzes (49.4%).

When Darnold has been pressured, he has completed 39.4% of his passes (26 of 66) for 5.0 Y/A with 2 touchdowns and 4 interceptions.

Seattle got reinforcements up front this week to help hold back interior pressure, trading for Quenton Nelson.

Right guard play has caused 23.2% of Darnold's pressures this season, the fifth-highest rate in the league.

It is assumed Grey Zabel will kick over to the right side, and Nelson will play left guard, since Zabel played across the line in college.

Bears vs. Seahawks Fantasy Running Back Preview

D'Andre Swift

Swift controlled the backfield again on Thursday, handling 26 of 28 backfield touches for 90 yards and a touchdown.

We've highlighted it here over the past few weeks, but most of Roschon Johnson‘s work in previous weeks was salting games away or in a junk-game script.

When the chips have been down, Swift has been the guy.

In a tighter game on Thursday, Swift had a 92.9% share of the touches.

We still expect Kyle Monangai to miss another week, but we will follow his status heading into Monday.

However, Swift has not been efficient in recent weeks.

He has rushed for under 4.0 yards per carry in three of his past four games, including 2.8 YPC against Atlanta in Week 6 and 3.5 YPC against New England last week.

Volume and touchdown equity have offset his lack of efficiency, which he will need here as a volume-based RB2.

Seattle has squashed the run, allowing 3.4 YPC to backs (3rd).

They are allowing 0.68 yards before contact per rush (5th) and an explosive run on 6.8% of attempts (4th).

No running back has reached 70 yards on the ground against them yet this season.

They melted Kenneth Walker on Sunday night, holding him to 2.6 YPC and allowing a long of 7 yards.

If there is an out for Swift outside getting into the end zone, it is as a pass catcher.

28.6% of the receptions Seattle has allowed have gone to running backs, the second-highest rate in the league.

Seahawks RBs

Seattle held out Zach Charbonnet last week after he appeared close to returning.

With Charbonnet out, we got another week of Emanuel Wilson, who made the most of the opportunity.

Wilson had 25 touches for 115 yards and a touchdown.

Wilson has been a stable RB2 with touchdown upside and control of the backfield the past four weeks.

We would love another clean week to keep starting Wilson, but things look messy.

Charbonnet is clearly getting close, and the latest report is that he will play on Monday.

Seattle also opened the 21-day practice window for Jadarian Price this week.

Price will practice this week, but we still do not know if he will play in Week 8.

We will have to follow reports this week to get a grasp on who will dress for Seattle on Monday night.

Either way, I am expecting a split backfield in some capacity.

As of now, I am planning on Charbonnet making his debut, with Price a question mark.

If Charbonnet is active, then both he and Wilson would be touchdown-dependent RB3 plays.

If Price also returns, Wilson is a good bet to get a pat on the back and a “thanks for your service” salute.

Big picture, we expected this backfield to end up with Price in a role similar to Kenneth Walker last year, with Charbonnet handling passing downs and goal-line work.

Seattle is a home favorite with a high team total, so this could be a good environment for the backfield overall.

The Bears allow 4.3 YPC to running backs (24th), but they don't give up many rushing points to backs.

They have allowed a first down or touchdown on 17.6% of backfield runs (5th) and 13.7 rushing points per game to backs (16th).

Chicago just acquired Jeffery Simmons to shore thing up.

The Titans faced 35 running back runs with Simmons off the field, allowing 4.5 YPC, a 51.4% success rate and a run of 10 or more yards on 14.3%.

With Simmons on the field, they allowed 4.0 YPC, a 65.7% success rate, and a 9.8% rate of 10-plus yard runs.

Tony Pollard

Bears vs. Seahawks Fantasy Wide Receiver Preview

Jaxon Smith-Njigba (TRUST)

Sunday night, Smith-Njigba delivered another flawless performance, catching 9 of 12 targets for 150 yards and a touchdown.

This offseason, I looked back on JSN's 2025 season as a remarkable standalone campaign that rivaled all-time usage.

Even if he was great again, that 2025 usage would be hard to fully replicate.

Somehow he is having an even better season this year.

He has 58 catches for 867 yards and 8 touchdowns.

Through seven games last year, he had 50 catches for 819 yards and 4 touchdowns.

Last year, JSN accounted for 36.6% of his team's receptions, the third-highest mark ever behind Brandon Marshall in 2012 (41.1%) and Steve Smith in 2005 (38.3%).

This year, he is at 39.7% of the receptions.

Smith-Njigba accounted for 44.1% of his team's receiving yards in 2025, the fourth-highest rate since 1990.

This year, he has 50.2% of his team's receiving yards.

He's gone over 100 yards in six of seven games, with a low of 76.

He has the most fantasy points in seven games for any wide receiver in league history.

Even crazier, he has faced three defenses in a row that rank in the top-10 in points allowed per target to wide receivers.

This week, he gets a Chicago defense that ranks 27th.

The Bears are allowing 9.5 yards per target to receivers (30th) and 15.9 yards per catch (31st).

They allow a league-high 11.3 yards per target to outside receivers.

The Bears have covered some of that because they see limited play volume.

They only face 15.7 wide receiver targets per game, the third-fewest in the league.

Wide receivers still get 58.8% of targets against the Bears (13th), so it is a play-volume issue.

Going back to the section on Darnold, what happens when and if Seattle gets more play volume than previous opponents versus Chicago?

We could be looking at a crooked number here for Smith-Njigba if that happens.

Luther Burden

Burden was electric on Thursday night, catching 4 passes for 130 yards and a touchdown.

He nearly had a second touchdown on a 58-yard catch-and-run but was tripped up inside of the 5.

The only small downer was that Burden did all of that in the first half.

He did not even get a target in the second half.

Burden was still limited to a 69.2% route rate because the Bears play so much heavy personnel and use Kalif Raymond as a blocker.

Ironically, Raymond sealed the screen pass Burden scored on.

The limited route rates aren't a massive deal since Burden is still targeted on 24.6% of his routes, but it's enough to frustrate gamers at times and prevent a larger runout.

Burden has run only 4 routes this year in 1WR sets (12.1%) and has a 40.5% route rate when the Bears deploy 2WR sets.

Cole Kmet‘s injury could shake things up in that regard.

Chicago has passed 30.1% of the time out of 12 personnel (4th) and 11.6% out of 13 personnel (4th).

They did draft Sam Roush this spring, who has played 21.6% of the snaps, but we should see a dip in 13 personnel and potentially 12 personnel without Kmet.

That would lead to a spike in 11 personnel.

Burden has a 96.2% route rate in 11 personnel.

While all of that sounds great, the timing couldn't be worse for the matchup.

Seattle allows a league-low 5.8 yards per target to receivers with 10.4 yards per reception (2nd).

They've allowed only two top-36 scoring receivers so far: Mike Evans (7-113-1) and Terry McLaurin (6-77-1).

Tre Harris (60 yards) and Mack Hollins (51 yards) are the only other receivers to reach 50 yards against them.

Burden gets enough manufactured looks to be the “safest” of the Chicago wideouts, but this matchup does dock him to WR3/WR4 status.

Rome Odunze

Odunze has two weeks inside the top-50 this season, so he is easier to discount here based on the matchup.

He has had 3 or fewer receptions in five of seven games.

Playing 80% of his routes out wide with 13.2 air yards per target, Odunze draws the worst of the matchup.

Seattle has allowed a league-low 34.9% completion rate (15 of 43 targets) to wide receivers on throws 10 or more yards downfield.

It only takes one to hit with Odunze's profile, but he is a touchdown-dependent WR4/FLEX this week.

Seahawks WRs

The ancillary Seattle wideouts are more single-game DFS plays since they have combined for one top-30 scoring week this season, and Smith-Njigba has 8 of the 10 receiver touchdowns.

But I am bullish on Darnold here, and the matchup is strong enough that someone can still come along for the ride outside of JSN.

Rashid Shaheed left the game on Sunday night, so we will have to follow his status heading into Monday.

If Shaheed cannot play, then Tory Horton (who has 1 of 2 non-JSN receiver touchdowns this year) would get a spike in playing time.

Cooper Kupp is playing the most of the group and has the other touchdown, but the Bears have been solid against slot receivers (as gamers found out with DeMario Douglas Thursday), ranking 11th in points allowed to those interior options.

Kupp also plays 50% of his snaps out wide, so he will get some of the good part of the matchup.

Kalif Raymond

Raymond only has 7 catches for 30 yards over the past four weeks, so he is only in play for single-game DFS.

As noted, we expect the Bears to run more 11 personnel after Kmet's injury, which should create more opportunities for Raymond.

We will look for a reveal in that approach here and then come back to it in better matchups.

Bears vs. Seahawks Fantasy Tight End Preview

Colston Loveland

Loveland has been resurrected over the past two weeks with Williams returning.

He has games of 6-65-1 (7 targets) and 7-69-1 (12 targets) in the past two weeks, seeing 21.2% and 40% of the targets.

Loveland posted a season-high in target share and air yards (91) in Week 7.

Even in a tough matchup, Loveland is playable at a low-end TE1 level, but he is more of a TE2 this week.

Seattle is, of course, sticky here, too.

They are allowing 5.2 yards per target to tight ends, second in the league, while facing Trey McBride (8-41-1), George Kittle (5-24-0), and Travis Kelce (4-44-0).

AJ Barner

Barner caught 4 of 5 targets on Sunday night.

He would be my answer if looking for another Seattle pass catcher to play with Darnold or take a flyer on as a matchup-based TE2.

Barner has been on the field for at least 86% of dropbacks in three straight games and has the second-highest target share from Darnold on the team (15.8%).

The Bears have allowed a TE1 scorer in three straight games (four total) and just allowed 10 catches for 127 yards and a score to New England tight ends.

More Week 8 Fantasy Breakdowns From The Worksheet: