A6 BAKER CITY HERALD • SATURDAY, AUGUST 20, 2022
SPORTS
NFL PRESEASON CONTINUES
Smith, error-prone Seahawks
struggle in 27-11 loss to Bears
BY TIM BOOTH
Associated Press
SEATTLE — Geno Smith’s
chance to gain an edge over
Drew Lock for Seattle’s start-
ing quarterback job was hin-
dered by his team’s sloppy
performance.
Smith and the Seahawks
were overwhelmed in a 27-11
loss to the Chicago Bears on
Thursday night, Aug. 18 in
the second preseason game
for both teams, which was
mostly a dud from Seattle’s
standpoint.
“He did OK,” Seattle coach
Pete Carroll said of Smith.
“We needed to come through.
We needed to help him a little
bit. We needed to make the
plays around him, too.”
Second-year Bears quar-
terback Justin Fields made
a brief appearance and led
a field-goal drive. Backup
Trevor Siemian threw a
touchdown pass, and Elijah
Hicks recovered a muffed
punt for a Chicago TD.
“I thought operation was
good, his preparation was
great. He handled the offense
the way we wanted him to,”
first-year Chicago coach Matt
Eberflus said of Fields. “Had a
nice drive and scored the field
goal. So I think it’s progress.”
The Seahawks had planned
to start Lock but turned to
Smith when Lock tested
positive for COVID-19 on
Tuesday. That meant another
opportunity for Smith, who
started last weekend at Pitts-
burgh, but his uninspired
performance suggests Lock
still has a chance to win the
job.
That may depend on how
quickly Lock can return from
his illness and if he’ll be ready
to play by the preseason fi-
nale in Dallas next week. Car-
roll said Lock was still feeling
“really sick.”
“I talked to him this morn-
ing and it hit him pretty
hard,” Carroll said.
Smith finished 10 of 18 for
112 yards and was hampered
Jennifer Buchanan/Seattle Times-TNS
Seattle Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith drops back to pass during the second quarter against the
Chicago Bears on Thursday, Aug. 18, 2022, at Lumen Field in Seattle.
by teammates’ mistakes while
playing the first half. His only
drive where Seattle threat-
ened to score ended when Ja-
son Myers missed a 47-yard
field goal attempt.
Smith was slated to play
into the third quarter but
banged his knee in the first
half. He was icing the knee
while Jacob Eason took all the
snaps after halftime.
“We again just started a
little slow, had some self-in-
flicted wounds. Some things
that we can control that really
set us back,” Smith said. “And
that’s the reason for the pre-
season is for us to get those
things out. Obviously, there’s a
ton of room for improvement
and a lot of things that we
have to improve on very fast.”
The Bears led 24-0 be-
fore Seattle finally got on the
board on Darwin Thompson’s
8-yard TD run with 2:08 left.
Penalties and dropped
passes made the Seahawks’
offense choppy and list-
less. Rookie first-round pick
Charles Cross was flagged
four times in the first half at
left tackle, three of those for
false start. Bo Melton, Fred-
die Swain and Dareke Young
had drops.
Exacerbating Seattle’s of-
fensive troubles was a right
ankle injury suffered by start-
ing left guard Damien Lewis
early in the second quar-
ter. Lewis was inadvertently
rolled up by Bears defensive
lineman Angelo Blackson.
Lewis was down for several
minutes and eventually had
an air splint put on his lower
right leg before being loaded
on a cart and taken off the
field. But Carroll said X-rays
were negative and Lewis has
an ankle sprain. Still, it’s a hit
to Seattle’s interior offensive
line, which isn’t the deepest
part of the roster.
“We’re very fortunate there.
He was upbeat about that a
little bit, maybe surprised by
the results. We’re thrilled,”
Carroll said.
Siemian threw a 1-yard TD
pass to Jake Tonges and Hicks
corralled Cade Johnson’s
muffed punt at the goal line
late in the first half to give
the Bears a 17-0 lead. Third-
stringer Nathan Peterman led
a drive in the third quarter
that ended with Darrynton
Evans’ 1-yard TD run.
FIELDS’ DAY
Fields played one series
in the first quarter. He was 5
of 7 for 39 yards and led the
Bears to a 35-yard field goal
by Cairo Santos.
“I feel like every time I step
on the field I can get some-
thing out of it,” Fields said.
INJURY CONCERNS
Chicago lost a couple of
players to injuries. Line-
backer Matt Adams suffered
a shoulder injury in the first
quarter. He’s been playing in
the spot normally occupied
by Roquan Smith, who is in
a contract dispute with the
team. Backup running back
Trestan Ebner suffered an an-
kle injury in the second quar-
ter and didn’t return.
UP NEXT
Bears: At Cleveland on
Aug. 27 to end the preseason.
Seahawks: Seattle closes
out the preseason on Aug. 26
at Dallas.
USC, UCLA exits
could cost Pac-12
schools $13 million
LOS ANGELES (AP) —
The departures of Southern
California and UCLA from
the Pac-12 Conference could
mean an estimated loss of
around $13 million per year
in media rights for each of the
remaining schools, according
to an interim report issued by
University of California Office
of the President.
The report was released
Wednesday, Aug. 17 during
a Board of Regents meeting
held at UCLA to address its
move to the Big Ten Confer-
ence in 2024.
California Gov. Gavin New-
som demanded an explana-
tion from UCLA about the
move when he attended last
month’s regents meeting in
San Francisco. UCLA and
USC announced on June 30
that the schools would be leav-
ing the Pac-12 in two years.
USC is a private institution
and not part of the UC system.
Newsom, an ex officio
member of the Board of Re-
gents, did not attend Wednes-
day’s meeting.
The report says USC’s exit
from the Pac-12 would mean
an estimated loss of $9.8 mil-
lion, or nearly 30%, of the
conference’s media rights, for
each of the remaining schools.
UCLA’s departure would not
be quite as drastic, with esti-
mates of 10% or $3.25 million.
It did not factor in losses in
ticket sales.
In 1991, campus chancellors
were delegated authority by
the UC Office of the President
to execute their own contracts,
including intercollegiate ath-
letic agreements. The Regents
though retain the authority
to review decisions impacting
the UC system.
The report is proposing
new guidelines to prevent
campuses from making major
decisions that could impact
sister campuses.
One proposal would require
the UC president to give ad-
vance notice of a major ath-
letic department decision to
the board chair and commit-
tee chair that has jurisdiction.
They would then decide if it
should go before the entire
Board of Regents.
WNBA PLAYOFFS
Ionescu leads Liberty
to 98-91 upset win
CHICAGO (AP) — Sa-
brina Ionescu had 22 points,
seven rebounds and six as-
sists, Natasha Howard also
scored 22 points and the sev-
enth-seeded New York Lib-
erty beat the defending cham-
pion Chicago Sky 98-91 on
Wednesday night, Aug. 17
in the opening game of the
WNBA playoffs.
New York scored the final
13 points of the fourth quarter
as Chicago missed 10 of its last
11 shots.
Betnijah Laney added 17
points and Stefanie Dolson
scored 13 points for New
York, which set a franchise
scoring record in the playoffs.
Kahleah Copper led the
second-seeded Sky with 21
points. Allie Quigley scored
18 points, and Candace Parker
had 17 points, 10 rebounds
and five assists.
Game 2 of the best-of-three
series is Saturday, Aug. 20 in
Chicago.
ACES 79, MERCURY 63
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Kelsey
Plum had 22 points, Chel-
sea Gray scored nine of her
17 points in the fourth quar-
ter and top-seeded Las Vegas
beat short-handed Phoenix on
Wednesday, Aug. 17.
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