Seattle Seahawks Coach Pete Carroll Admits Frustrations of Cincinnati Bengals Loss

The Seattle Seahawks fell to the Cincinnati Bengals in a game that will be remembered for the missed red zone opportunities.

The Seattle Seahawks will be left ruing the missed red zone chances in their 17-13 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals at Paycor Stadium on Sunday.

In a game where the Seattle offense had little trouble moving up and down the field and the defense produced a good performance to limit Joe Burrow and Co. to just 17 points, it was the red zone failures that came back to bite the Seahawks.

After such a good all-around effort from his team, Seattle head coach Pete Carroll called the loss frustrating.

“It makes it more frustrating, of course," Carroll said. "That was a game to win, right there. We came out here on the road, their crowd going crazy, and we’re right there. We’re inside the 10 a bunch of times to win the game. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get it in.” 

Looking at the stats, it's easy to see why Carroll is so frustrated.

The Seahawks had 381 yards of total offense to the Bengals' 214. Seattle averaged 5.4 yards a play to Cincinnati's 4.0. The Seahawks had 17 more plays and had the ball for almost nine minutes more, yet they still lost the game.

Pete Carroll was left frustrated in Seattle's 17-13 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals / Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports

After doing nearly everything right, the red zone issues plagued Seattle again as they finished the game going 1 of 5, which included just three points on four second-half trips in what likely cost them the game.

For Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith, whom much of the blame falls on; the team simply needs to move on as quickly as they can from the loss.

“You’ve got to flush it," Smith said. "If you play long enough in this game it will happen, but you have to flush it and you have to move on to the next one. We have a lot of football left to play. I believe in the type of player I am. I know today is not indicative of who I am as a player. A few mistakes that I’d love to have back but sometimes that happens in a game. You’ve just got to flush it and move on.”

Flushing the game is easier said than done. No doubt those red zone issues will get a thorough going-over this week before Seattle faces the Arizona Cardinals in Week 7.