The Seattle Seahawks celebrate after kicker Steven Hauschka (No 4) hit a 60 yard fourth quarter field goal in a 16-15 win over the San Diego Chargers at Qualcomm Stadium. PICTURE: USA TODAY Sports

By Bob Condotta/The Seattle Times

In the exhibition game regarded most like a dress rehearsal for the regular season, Seattle’s defence and special teams looked pretty well groomed for opening night.
The offence, though, continued its preseason-long struggles by playing in a manner that would threaten to get the whole production shut down on opening night.
The No 1 offence didn’t score a touchdown in six possessions, and still has not scored a touchdown in the preseason.
And that overshadowed the fact that the Seahawks rallied late to score a 16-15 victory over the San Diego Chargers, getting the winning points on a 60-yard field goal by Steven Hauschka with 16 seconds remaining.
Aside from three Hauschka field goals, Seattle’s only other points came on a 67-yard punt return for a touchdown by electric rookie Tyler Lockett.
Lockett, who also scored on a 103-yard kickoff return in the preseason opener against Denver, took the punt in the middle of the field, broke to the left and then across field to the right to make the score 7-3 early in the second quarter.
Otherwise, the Seattle offence was ineffectual, with just one first down on its first four possessions, and just 40 yards overall, until getting the ball back at its own 39 with 47 seconds left in the half.
The Seahawks then went into a hurry-up offence, something Seattle often does with success in the final minutes of halves. It worked again, to an extent, as Seattle got first downs on each of the first three plays to move into field-goal territory.
But a dropped pass by tight end Jimmy Graham helped keep the drive to just a field goal of 40 yards by Hauschka.
That allowed Seattle to take a 10-6 halftime lead despite being statistically dominated.
The Seahawks were outgained 180-80 in the first half, and had just four first downs to 10 for the Chargers.
As had been expected, Seattle’s No 1 offence came out for one more series in the third quarter.
But rather than gain some needed momentum while going against a San Diego defence filled with backups, that drive only added to the frustration.
After a pass interference penalty helped jump-start the drive, the Seahawks got to the 2 when Christine Michael picked up 29 yards, cutting back left to find room down the right sideline before diving just short of the pylon.
On the next play, though, Robert Turbin lost 7 yards on a pitch to the left.
Russell Wilson then threw incomplete to Graham _ his first attempt in the red zone to use Seattle’s most high-profile offseason acquisition.
On third down, Wilson had to scramble and ended up throwing wildly incomplete to Jermaine Kearse.
The No 1 offence finished with 137 yards and eight first downs on six possessions, with Wilson going 7 for 15 for 56 yards, with a long of 14 and a passer rating of 56.6.
Seattle now has four touchdowns in the preseason _ two on returns by Lockett, one on an interception return by linebacker Bobby Wagner, and the other coming on a touchdown pass from backup R J Archer late in the preseason opener against Denver.
The starting defence largely acquitted itself well, especially considering the secondary remains without starting safeties Earl Thomas and Kam Chancellor and going against one of the better passing offences in the NFL.
A sack by rookie Frank Clark helped stop a San Diego drive that led to the punt that was returned by Lockett - back-to-back highlight plays from the team’s first two choices in the 2015 draft.
San Diego quarterback Philip Rivers was sacked again on third down on the next drive by Bruce Irvin to force a punt.
And the Seahawks forced two incomplete passes from the 10 on San Diego’s final possession of the first half - the last when Seattle had a number of its defensive starters in the game.
San Diego cut the lead to 13-12 on a 70-yard touchdown by running back Branden Oliver, who was left all alone and then broke a tackle from Seattle rookie safety Ryan Murphy to race down the sideline into the end zone.
The Chargers then took a 15-13 lead on a 52-yard field goal by Nick Novak midway through the fourth quarter.
The Seahawks had a chance to take the lead back with 3:46 left but Hauschka’s 58-yard field goal came up just short. But he would get redemption a few minutes later.