‘Going to Get There’: Mike Macdonald Optimistic About Seattle Seahawks’ Trajectory

RENTON, Wash. – Enduring the first major adversity of his head coaching tenure with the Seattle Seahawks, Mike Macdonald has lamented his team’s struggles with everything from losing the turnover margin, drawing too many flags, and surrendering too many explosives on defense among other things.

But in the midst of a three-game losing streak, Macdonald hasn’t lost hope or confidence in his team, reiterating on numerous occasions since Thursday’s defeat to the 49ers that he believes in the talent and leadership in the Seahawks’ locker room to carry them through to better days ahead. As for reasons behind his persisting optimism, he has loved the fight and resiliency exhibited by his players clawing back into each of the last three games after slow starts.

“I think in order to be great, it starts with a solid foundation,” Macdonald told reporters on Friday morning. “Probably outside the New York game, the effort and the physicality and the intent of how we’re playing is there. That’s a reason to be optimistic.”

To kick off three games in 10 days, Seattle fell behind 21-7 at halftime to Detroit, but Macdonald’s team fought back to within one score multiple times in the second half with chances to win. Six days later, they nearly erased a 10-point lead in the second half to New York, only for Jason Myers’ game-tying field goal attempt to be blocked by linebacker Isaiah Simmons.

Then on Thursday night, the 49ers looked to be on their way to a prime time laugher when Brock Purdy hooked up with George Kittle for a touchdown to open the second half, extending their lead to 23-3. But receiver Laviska Shenault followed up with a much-needed spark for the Seahawks by returning a kickoff 97 yards for a touchdown and after making a defensive stop, Ken Walker III scored from a yard out, suddenly making it a six-point game late in the third quarter.

Unfortunately, digging such large holes by playing sloppy football with subpar execution on offense, defense, and special teams created what proved to be insurmountable deficits in all three of those games. Despite their resilient efforts in the second half, they never led in the final two quarters over the past three weeks, a sign of how close and yet still so far they are from getting to where they want to be drawing closer to the midpoint of the season.

With that being said, considering the Seahawks had a chance to win all of those games despite their litany of mistakes in all three phases that put them in an early bind, Macdonald’s faith in his team remains unwavering. Still with 11 games left to play, he’s bullish on players and coaches working in unison to fix the issues that have plagued them in the first six weeks and start playing their best ball as the team they aspire to become.

“We’re going to get there. We’re going to get to the point where we want to be. I think our guys are bought in, and they’re convinced of it. They’re going to be part of the solution, and it’s my job and the coaches’ job to make it come to life. We’re going to be resilient. We’re just going to do it. At some point, it’s going to happen. I hope it’s this week. We’ve got the guys and the resolve to make it come to life.”