A week ago, Kam Chancellor was being hailed as the savior of Seattle's season -- thanks to one big play that averted another collapse by the Seahawks' defense.

On Sunday, Chancellor was one of the bigger goats in Seattle's major meltdown in Cincinnati -- as the Seattle defense once again fell prey to a good quarterback, a good tight end and a short passing attack.

The Seahawks lost in St. Louis and Green Bay because Nick Foles and Aaron Rodgers picked on Seattle with short and intermediate passes.

Because Chancellor was holding out for those games, many people claimed: "If Kam were here, they would stop those plays." Those people clearly had not watched the Seahawks in recent years -- particularly last year, when Chancellor and K.J. Wright were burned repeatedly by tight ends.

On Sunday, Chancellor showed not much has changed, giving up two touchdown passes from Andy Dalton to tight end Tyler Eifert -- on the same play call.

The first capped the Bengals' first drive with a 14-yard score. The second, a 10-yarder, cut Seattle's lead to 24-14 early in the fourth quarter. Eifert also beat Chancellor for a 25-yard gain down to the Seattle 20-yard line with a minute left in the game. The Bengals were trailing 24-21 at the time, and they ended up kicking the tying field goal with no time left, sending the game to overtime.

Beyond Eifert's efforts, Chancellor was caught trying to cover Mohamed Sanu on a seam route that went for 25 yards on the touchdown drive that cut the lead to 24-21. Sanu burned Seattle with four short receptions on that drive, accounting for 48 of the 71 yards.

“They had a great game plan in the fourth,’’ Richard Sherman said. “They started to check it down, and Sanu made some great catches.’’

It's the template for beating the Seahawks: Throw short to backs, tight ends and quick receivers. Over the past two years, it has worked for San Diego, Dallas, St. Louis, New England, Green Bay and now Cincinnati.

This time it contributed to the greatest meltdown in Seahawks history. Over 39-plus seasons, Seattle had been 71-0 when leading by 17 points or more entering the fourth quarter, according to Pro Football Reference's database. The Hawks led 24-7 entering the fourth quarter in Cincinnati and became the first team since 2006 and the 32nd team since 1940 to achieve the dubious debacle.

Of course, Chancellor wasn't the only contributor to the historic loss. He had help from Cary Williams, who could not contain star receiver A.J. Green and had a key pass interference penalty covering Marvin Jones. He also had help from Michael Bennett, who committed two penalties, including a ridiculous personal foul that ruined Earl Thomas' 68-yard interception return near the end of the first half.

The offense shared blame, too. Seattle rushed for 200 yards but did not advance past its 38-yard line in its final five drives, including two in the fourth quarter.

It all added up to a brand-new way to lose that "baffled" coach Pete Carroll and left the defense wondering how it happened.

“It’s very, very tough,’’ Earl Thomas said. “Especially when you lead a game, you kind of scratch your head like, ‘What just happened?’”