Seahawks, at 4-4, host Cardinals in Week 9 trying to recover from loss to Bears

The Seattle Seahawks play the Arizona Cardinals at Lumen Field on Sunday. It is one of 13 games on the Week 9 slate that ESPN is tracking in its running highlights file. The day starts with Cincinnati and Atlanta in Madrid and ends with Tampa Bay at Chicago. Seattle comes in at 4-4 after a week spent on a 34-17 home loss to the Bears, the most points the defense has allowed this season.

The matchup has gone Seattle's way for years. Yahoo Sports notes that the Seahawks are going for an 11th straight win over Arizona, a streak that goes back to 2021 and includes a 31-7 win at State Farm Stadium in Week 2. Kickoff is 1:25 p.m. PT on Fox. Next week Seattle travels to Las Vegas to face the Raiders and former offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak.

The national panel leans the same way. In the roundup of picks collected by Seahawks.com, every listed forecaster takes Seattle. The projected scores run from a three-point game to a 17-point blowout. Pete Prisco of CBS Sports called the Bears result "an embarrassing home loss" and pointed out that Arizona won at Dallas last week. Gardner Minshew led the Cardinals in that game.

What it means for Sunday

Seattle's first half has been a series of swings, with no streak longer than two games either way. The Seahawks have scored 185 points and allowed 159, a margin of plus-26 over eight games. Close games have hurt them. They are 1-3 in games decided by three points or fewer: the 13-10 win over New England and losses of 31-33 at Washington, 29-32 to San Francisco and 14-17 at Denver. Seattle is 3-2 at home. Two of those three wins were a 30-23 result against the Chargers and a 20-3 win over Kansas City two weeks ago. The Bears game came right after that strong defensive showing against the Chiefs, so Sunday is a chance to show the Kansas City performance was the real version of this team.

The board has Seattle as a clear favorite across 12 venues. Novig, one of the venues, lists the Seahawks at -376 on the moneyline and the Cardinals at +365. That is shorter than the -455 DraftKings price Yahoo Sports reported for Seattle. On the spread, Novig has the Seahawks favored by 8.5 at -104 and Arizona +8.5 at +102. The best Cardinals number anywhere is +9 at -110 on Hard Rock Bet, so the venues are half a point apart on the line. Sportsbook hold on the spread ranges from 2.4% to 5.0%. On the moneyline it runs from 3.1% to 6.1%.

The total is 39.5. Novig prices the over at -104 and the under at -100. That is far below what either team has been producing lately. Seattle and Chicago combined for 51 points last week. Even so, the earlier meeting between these two teams ended with 38 points, and the total is near that again.

If Seattle covers a number that size, it will look like the team that beat Kansas City. A third straight home loss after a bad week would push the Seahawks under .500 heading into a road game. More on the season is on the Seahawks team page.