SEATTLE — It was a defeat that will leave the Seahawks kicking themselves.
And in large part because they simply couldn’t kick it when they needed to.
Three missed field goals by Blair Walsh in the first half opened the door for Washington to pull the upset.
And a late 70-yard touchdown drive then allowed Washington to kick it open with Rob Kelley’s 1-yard score with 59 seconds left giving the visitors a stunning 17-14 victory.
Seattle seemed poised to win it when Russell Wilson hit Doug Baldwin on a 34-yard touchdown with 1:34 left to take a 14-10 lead.
But two long completions by Washington quarterback Kirk Cousins led to a shocking Seattle collapse.
First, Cousins hit Brian Quick over Kam Chancellor and Justin Coleman to move Washington to the 39.
Josh Doctson then beat Shaquill Griffin down the left side and dived to catch Cousins’ pass, sliding to the 1-yard line with 1:02 left.
The Seahawks used their last time out and after a lengthy review the play was upheld.
Kelley then scored his second touchdown of the game with 59 seconds left and combined with the PAT put Washington ahead 17-14.
Seattle took over at its own 25 with 59 seconds left and no time outs.
A pass to Tyler Lockett got Seattle to its own 36.
A 26-yard catch and run by Paul Richardson moved the ball to the Washington 38.
On the next play, Wilson was tripped up by Terrell McClain, but got rid of the ball as he threw it. The play was initially ruled a sack and Wilson down at the 46.
After a review the ruling was confirmed.
That gave Seattle one last play from the Washington 46 and four seconds remaining.
A final Hail Mary heave into the end zone in the direction of both Jimmy Graham and Tanner McEvoy fell incomplete and that was that.
The defeat dropped Seattle to 5-3 and into second place in the NFC West behind the 6-2 Rams.
The Seahawks trailed 7-2 at the end of one of the team’s sloppiest halves in recent memory.
On top of Walsh’s three missed field goals were nine penalties — three for offensive holding — and an interception.
Walsh missed from 44 yards out late in the first quarter and then from 39 and 49 in the second. All were wide left.
According to the NFL, Walsh became the first kicker to miss three field goals in a half since Mike Nugent did it for Cincinnati in the second week of the 2014 season against Atlanta.
Walsh stayed on the field at halftime practicing his kicks while the rest of the team headed to the locker room, though he had to share the field with piglet races.
The final miss came on the final play of the first half after the Seahawks had moved to the Washington 31.
Walsh, signed as a free agent to a one-year contract in February with the Seahawks knowing they were unlikely to retain free agent Stephen Hauschka (who eventually signed a four-year, $12.4 million deal with Buffalo), was 12-for-13 kicking field goals in the first seven games of the season.
Seattle’s only points through three quarters came when Bobby Wagner burst unimpeded into the end zone to tackle Cousins for a safety on a play that snapped from the 6-yard-line with 6:52 left in the first quarter.
Washington had just 21 total offense yards in the first quarter.
But after the second of Walsh’s misses, Washington moved 71 yards in 13 plays to score on a 1-yard run by Kelley with 2:52 to play in the half.
Walsh’s misses contributed to Seattle’s offense going scoreless in the first half for the first time all season.
The good news was that the Seahawks got the running game going a little in the first half with 74 — more than double the 33 of the previous week — though once again a lot came from Wilson, who had 30 on four attempts.
The Seahawks entered the game with a stated goal of trying to get Eddie Lacy going, but he had just 20 yards on six carries before leaving the game following the first quarter with a groin injury.
Washington used a roughing penalty to move into field-goal range on its first drive of the second half with Nick Rose hitting from 28 yards out to make it 10-2.
Wilson then threw his second interception of the game on Seattle’s next possession.
Evading pressure — a continual theme of the day — Wilson lofted the ball in the apparent direction of Baldwin but instead threw it right to Washington linebacker Will Compton at the Washington 46.
But trailing 10-2, Seattle’s offense came to life in the fourth quarter.
A 22-yard Wilson pass to Thomas Rawls and then a 15-yarder to Graham were the big plays to get the Seahawks close.
Finally, the Seahawks offense got on the board on a 10-yard pass from Wilson to tight end Luke Willson with 11:48 left.
But trailing 10-8, Seattle went for two and Washington’s D.J. Swearinger picked off Wilson’s throw to J.D. McKissic. Swearinger then sprinted downfield hoping to get two points for Washington with Wilson sprinting equally quickly to make the tackle. Swearinger lateraled once and then there was another before the play finally ended.
A penalty for illegal block in the back helped stall a drive and Washington punted from midfield with 2:31 left to enable Seattle to take over at its own 29 with 2:22 remaining.
After the two-minute warning, Wilson hit Graham for 21 yards and then Wilson ran for 11 more.
Then Baldwin broke wide open against a busted coverage — Washington cornerback Josh Norman threw his hands up in exasperation as the pass was thrown — catching Wilson’s toss and scooting easily into the end zone to complete a five-play, 71-yard drive in 48 seconds.
That left 1:34 on the clock for Washington.
And despite working behind an offensive line missing three starters, Cousins led a drive that left a wet and damp CenturyLink Field crowd silent.
