LANDOVER, Md. -- When Sam Darnold hit Cooper Kupp in the end zone late in the fourth quarter, it felt like the Seahawks were about to pull off another improbable win.

Sure, the Seahawks committed three turnovers, all of which led to Commanders touchdowns, and yes, they had trailed by as many as 14 points in the second half, but suddenly they were down just two points with nearly three minutes left to play. Surely, the Seahawks had one more stop and another scoring drive in them, right?

On this afternoon, it turned out they did not. In Washington's ensuing possession, the Commanders were able to convert on third-and-9 and third-and-7, allowing them to run out the clock toward a 33-31 victory that ended the Seahawks' franchise-record 12-game winning streak.

"Everyone had the expectation that we were going to find a way to go out there and win that game," said Kupp after the loss. "That's the people we have in our locker room. It didn't finish the way that we wanted to, but the belief is all there. I really believe we were a play away here or there from that end result being different, but kudos the Commanders, they had a good gameplan, they played hard. That's a good football team over there."

Said middle linebacker Ernest Jones IV, "The feeling right now, we're disappointed. We didn't execute. Hat's off to them, they executed, they made the plays when the plays needed to be made. But on our side, we just didn't execute. It was sloppy play from the beginning to the end, all three levels. We're not down, we've been here before, we've lost games. We'll be good."

That belief Kupp mentioned was there with the Seahawks on their run to a Super Bowl title last year, and it won't waver now because of one tough loss, no matter how unfamiliar the feeling is for a team that won 17 games last season, playoffs included.

So when Kupp was asked about that belief and why he knows the team will respond well, it was an easy answer.

"Because I've seen it over and over and over again," Kupp said. "I've seen the way that guys come into work, I've seen the way that guys compete. The belief is there. I know that's how that locker room feels. These sting, it's a punch to the gut, without a doubt, and it should. You spend so much time, you put so much effort into it, so to not get the result you want hurts. But all it means is going back to the grindstone, finding ways to improve, and regardless of what that scoreboard says, it would be that same process coming in Monday and getting back to work."

Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who had another huge game catching 10 passes for 128 yards and two touchdowns, echoed that sentiment

"We're gonna stick to who we are. We know we're a great team," Smith-Nijigba said. "I think we played our butts off today. A few things didn't go our way, but we're going to stick to who we are, come back tomorrow, and like I said, figure out the smaller details we need to fix and get it done."

Sunday's loss was the first for the Seahawks since Week 11 of last season when they committed four turnovers to the Rams, another game that saw a big comeback fall just short. Following that defeat, Seattle rattled off seven straight regular-season victories to win the NFC West and earn the NFC's top seed before winning three postseason games, including Super Bowl LX. The Seahawks started this season with two wins, bringing their win streak to a franchise mark of 12 straight.

That streak is over, but nobody on the team has any questions about how the team will respond.

"Oh I know how we're going to respond," said Jones. "The last time we lost was that Rams game, right? We lost by what, two points? Similar situation. I know how we're going to respond. We're going go to work, we're going to beat up on each other on Wednesday, Thursday we're going to love up on each other, Friday we're going to have a little fun, and when Saturday and Sunday roll around, we're going to do what we're supposed to do."

As Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald often discusses, the process of how the Seahawks prepare for a game is in a lot of ways more important than the final score. Had the Seahawks gotten one more stop and a game-winning field goal, yes, it would have been a happier scene in the locker room, but it wouldn't have changed the fact that they were sloppy with the ball, committing three turnovers, or that they couldn't get a turnover of their own on defense, or that they had an empty red-zone trip for the second game in a row.

And just like Macdonald likes how his team works coming off a win, he's also expecting the process to be solid this coming week as they move on to another opponent.

"I know our team, I know what they're made of, I know what we have," Macdonald said. "We're going to get back to work, we're going to get better and it's our job as coaches too to look at it operationally. It's not the result we want, but that's a byproduct of how we approach everything. How we travel, how we get ready, how we gameplan, so we'll look at everything, attack the heck out of it and move forward, but the guys will be great."