Woolen's late interception seals win as Seahawks beat struggling Bears 6-3 to boost playoff hopes

CHICAGO (AP) — The Seattle Seahawks made just enough plays to boost their fading playoff hopes by beating the struggling Chicago Bears on Thursday night.

Now, they'll be rooting for the Arizona Cardinals to beat the Los Angeles Rams this weekend.

Riq Woolen intercepted Caleb Williams' late pass and the Seahawks squeezed past Chicago 6-3 on Thursday night to hand the Bears their 10th straight loss.

Jason Myers kicked field goals on the game’s first possession and near the end of the second quarter. Leonard Williams had two of Seattle’s seven sacks, and Woolen sealed the win in the closing minute.

Chicago (4-12) had a fourth down at the Seattle 40 with 20 seconds remaining. The Seahawks (9-7) brought the blitz, and a leaping Woolen picked off a pass intended for Keenan Allen at the 22, ending Williams’ NFL rookie-record string of passes without an interception at 353.

“We're in the mode of control what we can control,” Seattle coach Mike Macdonald said. “We know what's coming next week. We're going to spend this weekend getting our minds and bodies and spirits right to go play a game. We're praying that it's for the division championship."

Geno Smith threw for 160 yards, and the sluggish Seahawks came away with a win they sorely needed after dropping two in a row. They came in trailing the NFC West-leading Rams by a game with two remaining.

“We still are seeing it as a possibility,” Williams said. “In a way, we're trying to say, ‘Let’s control the controlables and let the other things fall into place as they will.'”

Seattle's most likely route to the playoffs is by having the Rams lose to Arizona on Saturday and beating Los Angeles to close the regular season. The Seahawks were in control of their postseason destiny before losing to Minnesota last week.

“Honestly, we shouldn't be in this position,” Smith said. “That's the main thing, is understanding that we've got to control our destiny when we can. But yeah, I'm going to be a big Kyler Murray fan on Saturday. If they get it done, they get it done. But we're going to go into this last week of the season with the same mindset no matter what.”

Chicago has two double-digit losing streaks in general manager Ryan Poles’ three seasons. The Bears dropped the final 10 games two years ago as part of a franchise-worst 14 game slide that stretched into 2023. They’ve never lost more than 10 straight in one season, and fans chanted “Sell the team!” near the end of this one.

Chicago's defense did its part. But it was a rough night for the offense.

Williams extended his NFL-leading total and individual franchise record for sacks to 67. The Bears broke their previous mark of 66 sacks allowed in 2004, when they used four quarterbacks.

Williams acknowledged the hits are taking their toll. But he also vowed to grow from the experience.

“Frustrating, annoyed but learning I would say,” he said. “I definitely think this is going to be good for me. I’m excited about this last game and excited about the future.”

Smith completed 17 of 23 passes, and the Seahawks improved to 6-1 on the road.

Noah Fant had 43 yards receiving, and Zach Charbonnet ran for 57.

Chicago is 0-4 since interim coach Thomas Brown replaced the fired Matt Eberflus.

Williams was 16 for 28 with 122 yards. It was a big drop from the previous week, when he threw for 334 yards and two touchdowns against NFC leader Detroit following a string of shaky performances.

The Bears simply couldn't keep drives going, finishing with 179 yards and converted just 5 of 15 third downs. And for that, tight end Cole Kmet wasn't giving credit to Seattle's defense.

“No, I don’t think so,” he said. “I think it was all us, honestly. I think there was a lot of things that we didn’t do well enough and I think that’s kind of been the theme and story of the year for us offensively. Just got to find ways to be better.”

Myers kicked a 27-yard field goal on the game's opening drive. Chicago tied it on Cairo Santos' 42 yard field goal with 2:32 left in the half. But Myers booted a 50-yarder in the closing minute, sending the Seahawks to the locker room with a 6-3 lead.

Seahawks: Seattle placed RB Kenneth Walker III on injured reserve prior to the game because of an ankle injury. Walker hurt his ankle in last week’s loss to Minnesota and left that game after sitting out the previous two because of a calf problem. He also missed two weeks in September with an oblique issue. ... CB Josh Jobe (knee) got banged up.

Seahawks: At Los Angeles next week.

Bears: At Green Bay next week.

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL

Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams wipes his eyes as he talks with reporters after an NFL football game against the Seattle Seahawks, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Chicago Bears interim head coach Thomas Brown listens to reporters after an NFL football game against the Seattle Seahawks, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Seattle Seahawks place kicker Jason Myers (5), with Michael Dickson holding, kicks a field goal against the Chicago Bears during the first half of an NFL football game, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

Seattle Seahawks running back Kenny McIntosh, left, runs for yardage against the Chicago Bears during the first half of an NFL football game, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Seattle Seahawks running back Zach Charbonnet (26) runs with the ball against the Chicago Bears during the first half of an NFL football game, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Seattle Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith looks to pass against the Chicago Bears during the first half of an NFL football game, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams attempts a pass against the Seattle Seahawks during the first half of an NFL football game, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams throws a pass against the Seattle Seahawks during the first half of an NFL football game, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba (11) runs with the ball as Chicago Bears safety Jonathan Owens (36) and defensive end Jacob Martin (55) try to stop him during the second half of an NFL football game, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams leaves the field following an NFL football game against the Seattle Seahawks, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024, in Chicago. The Seahawks won 6-3. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Seattle Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith (7) holds a cell phone following an NFL football game against the Chicago Bears, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024, in Chicago. The Seahawks won 6-3. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams reacts after an incomplete pass attempt during the second half of an NFL football game against the Seattle Seahawks, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024, in Chicago. The Seahawks won 6-3. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams (18) and offensive tackle Darnell Wright (58) react while walking off the field during the second half of an NFL football game against the Seattle Seahawks, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024, in Chicago. The Seahawks won 6-3. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Seattle Seahawks cornerback Riq Woolen, left, shares a moment with his mother following an NFL football game against the Chicago Bears, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024, in Chicago. The Seahawks won 6-3. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Becky Pepper-Jackson finished third in the discus throw in West Virginia last year though she was in just her first year of high school. Now a 15-year-old sophomore, Pepper-Jackson is aware that her upcoming season could be her last.

West Virginia has banned transgender girls like Pepper-Jackson from competing in girls and women's sports, and is among the more than two dozen states with similar laws. Though the West Virginia law has been blocked by lower courts, the outcome could be different at the conservative-dominated Supreme Court, which has allowed multiple restrictions on transgender people to be enforced in the past year.

The justices are hearing arguments Tuesday in two cases over whether the sports bans violate the Constitution or the landmark federal law known as Title IX that prohibits sex discrimination in education. The second case comes from Idaho, where college student Lindsay Hecox challenged that state's law.

Decisions are expected by early summer.

President Donald Trump's Republican administration has targeted transgender Americans from the first day of his second term, including ousting transgender people from the military and declaring that gender is immutable and determined at birth.

Pepper-Jackson has become the face of the nationwide battle over the participation of transgender girls in athletics that has played out at both the state and federal levels as Republicans have leveraged the issue as a fight for athletic fairness for women and girls.

“I think it’s something that needs to be done,” Pepper-Jackson said in an interview with The Associated Press that was conducted over Zoom. “It’s something I’m here to do because ... this is important to me. I know it’s important to other people. So, like, I’m here for it.”

She sat alongside her mother, Heather Jackson, on a sofa in their home just outside Bridgeport, a rural West Virginia community about 40 miles southwest of Morgantown, to talk about a legal fight that began when she was a middle schooler who finished near the back of the pack in cross-country races.

Pepper-Jackson has grown into a competitive discus and shot put thrower. In addition to the bronze medal in the discus, she finished eighth among shot putters.

She attributes her success to hard work, practicing at school and in her backyard, and lifting weights. Pepper-Jackson has been taking puberty-blocking medication and has publicly identified as a girl since she was in the third grade, though the Supreme Court's decision in June upholding state bans on gender-affirming medical treatment for minors has forced her to go out of state for care.

Her very improvement as an athlete has been cited as a reason she should not be allowed to compete against girls.

“There are immutable physical and biological characteristic differences between men and women that make men bigger, stronger, and faster than women. And if we allow biological males to play sports against biological females, those differences will erode the ability and the places for women in these sports which we have fought so hard for over the last 50 years,” West Virginia's attorney general, JB McCuskey, said in an AP interview. McCuskey said he is not aware of any other transgender athlete in the state who has competed or is trying to compete in girls or women’s sports.

Despite the small numbers of transgender athletes, the issue has taken on outsize importance. The NCAA and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committees banned transgender women from women's sports after Trump signed an executive order aimed at barring their participation.

The public generally is supportive of the limits. An Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll conducted in October 2025 found that about 6 in 10 U.S. adults “strongly” or “somewhat” favored requiring transgender children and teenagers to only compete on sports teams that match the sex they were assigned at birth, not the gender they identify with, while about 2 in 10 were “strongly” or “somewhat” opposed and about one-quarter did not have an opinion.

About 2.1 million adults, or 0.8%, and 724,000 people age 13 to 17, or 3.3%, identify as transgender in the U.S., according to the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law.

Those allied with the administration on the issue paint it in broader terms than just sports, pointing to state laws, Trump administration policies and court rulings against transgender people.

"I think there are cultural, political, legal headwinds all supporting this notion that it’s just a lie that a man can be a woman," said John Bursch, a lawyer with the conservative Christian law firm Alliance Defending Freedom that has led the legal campaign against transgender people. “And if we want a society that respects women and girls, then we need to come to terms with that truth. And the sooner that we do that, the better it will be for women everywhere, whether that be in high school sports teams, high school locker rooms and showers, abused women’s shelters, women’s prisons.”

But Heather Jackson offered different terms to describe the effort to keep her daughter off West Virginia's playing fields.

“Hatred. It’s nothing but hatred,” she said. "This community is the community du jour. We have a long history of isolating marginalized parts of the community.”

Pepper-Jackson has seen some of the uglier side of the debate on display, including when a competitor wore a T-shirt at the championship meet that said, “Men Don't Belong in Women's Sports.”

“I wish these people would educate themselves. Just so they would know that I’m just there to have a good time. That’s it. But it just, it hurts sometimes, like, it gets to me sometimes, but I try to brush it off,” she said.

One schoolmate, identified as A.C. in court papers, said Pepper-Jackson has herself used graphic language in sexually bullying her teammates.

Asked whether she said any of what is alleged, Pepper-Jackson said, “I did not. And the school ruled that there was no evidence to prove that it was true.”

The legal fight will turn on whether the Constitution's equal protection clause or the Title IX anti-discrimination law protects transgender people.

The court ruled in 2020 that workplace discrimination against transgender people is sex discrimination, but refused to extend the logic of that decision to the case over health care for transgender minors.

The court has been deluged by dueling legal briefs from Republican- and Democratic-led states, members of Congress, athletes, doctors, scientists and scholars.

The outcome also could influence separate legal efforts seeking to bar transgender athletes in states that have continued to allow them to compete.

If Pepper-Jackson is forced to stop competing, she said she will still be able to lift weights and continue playing trumpet in the school concert and jazz bands.

“It will hurt a lot, and I know it will, but that’s what I’ll have to do,” she said.

Heather Jackson, left, and Becky Pepper-Jackson pose for a photograph outside of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Heather Jackson, left, and Becky Pepper-Jackson pose for a photograph outside of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Becky Pepper-Jackson poses for a photograph outside of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

The Supreme Court stands is Washington, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

FILE - Protestors hold signs during a rally at the state capitol in Charleston, W.Va., on March 9, 2023. (AP Photo/Chris Jackson, file)