Seahawks stun Denver Broncos in Russell Wilson's return to Seattle

SEATTLE — Seattle Seahawks fans have seen Russell Wilson play in game-on-the-line fourth quarters at Lumen Field over the past decade.

Wilson was at it again Monday night, but this one, naturally, felt entirely different.

For the first time, the deafening crowd here rooted for and then reveled in Wilson's failure to secure his team a victory. For the first time, his failure meant victory for the Seahawks, a 17-16 upset over Wilson's Denver Broncos.

Wilson, now in Denver after 10 years with the Seahawks, guided his team  to Seattle's 46-yard line in the waning seconds, but first-year head coach Nathaniel Hackett opted to send kicker Brandon McManus out for a 64-yard field goal attempt rather than try to convert a fourth-and-5 with 20 seconds remaining.

McManus missed, and Seattle celebrated.

It was quite a scene, watching Wilson try to conjure late-game magic in the place he used to call home, but instead of writing himself and the Broncos a storybook ending to begin the second phase of his career, Denver is instead 0-1 heading back home for contests the next two weeks against Houston and San Francisco.

It will be a bitter taste, indeed, for Hackett, Wilson and company.

Denver had chance after chance to take control of the game earlier in the second half, but fumbled twice at the goal line and overall had a terrible night in the red zone.

It took the opening possession of the second half 78 yards to the 1-yard line only to see Melvin Gordon fumble on fourth-and-goal.

The Broncos’ prized defensive free agent addition, outside linebacker Randy Gregory, stripped DK Metcalf and helped set the visitors up in prime position to take the lead again.

Again, Denver couldn’t capitalize. The other half of its vaunted running back duo, Javonte Williams, fumbled on third-and-goal from the 1-yard line after being stacked up in the backfield.

Both times, first-year Denver head coach Nathaniel Hackett had Wilson in the shotgun in short-yardage situations.

Denver’s first five red zone trips of the night – drives that netted 315 yards and averaged 63 – resulted in just nine points.

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That allowed the Seahawks to keep the lead and work the clock, with the Lumen Field crowd chanting, “GE-NO, GE-NO” after every positive play from the quarterback.

Though Smith didn't do a lot in the second half, he spent the first 30 minutes of the post-Wilson era for Seattle cooking with gas.

The veteran quarterback torched Denver’s defense by completing 17-of-18 first-half attempts for 164 yards and two touchdowns in leading the Seahawks to a 17-13 first-half lead.

Each team scored on three of its four first-half drives in a track meet that featured 476 total offensive yards (257 for Denver, 219 for Seattle) and six scoring drives of 70-plus yards.

Seattle took the opening kickoff and marched 77 yards, capped by a 38-yard touchdown from Smith to a wide-open Will Dissly. Denver struggled to tackle, turned loose too many Seahawks pass-catches when Smith extended plays and committed seven first-half penalties for 71 yards, including five by the defense.

Smith’s second touchdown also went to a tight end, this time Colby Parkinson for 25 yards past the coverage of inside linebacker Jonas Griffith for a 17-10 lead with 2:24 before halftime.

Wilson was no slouch himself, completing 10-of-15 for 205 and a touchdown himself in the first half. He didn’t target a wide receiver until the middle of the second quarter, but made it pay on a 67-yard touchdown up the left sideline to Jerry Jeudy, who had not found the end zone since the 2020 season finale.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Seattle Seahawks defeat Denver Broncos in Russell Wilson's return