Seattle, WA
‘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.”
We survived it last year, barely, but now we’re in for several “months of Hell” as closures of northbound I-5 across the Ship Canal Bridge return.
You deserve a pat on the back if you survived the “month of Hell” between July and August last summer.
You might need therapy to survive what’s about to happen.
Four ‘months of hell’ inbound
Four “months of Hell” will start this weekend with a full closure of northbound I-5 from downtown Seattle to University District. The Washington Department of Transportation (WSDOT) needs the weekend to set up a work zone across the Ship Canal Bridge.
Come next Monday, the two left lanes of the northbound Ship Canal Bridge will be closed 24/7, and this is going to last for four months.
I spoke with Tom Pearce, a communications specialist for WSDOT, about the upcoming work last year.
“We will work for about four months, and then we will pause and pick everything up when the World Cup comes to town,” Pearce said. “When the World Cup ends, we will have another weekend-long closure, reset the work zone, and then we’ll start to work on the right lanes of the northbound Ship Canal Bridge.”
And that will come with a second four-month chunk of lane closures.
I’m not sure if you remember just how bad these similar closures were for that one month last summer, but it was absolutely brutal.
To help with the traffic flow, WSDOT kept the I-5 express lanes open in the northbound direction the entire time. The rationale is that it is the direction of travel of the closures.
What that created was a daily one-hour delay, or more, for southbound I-5 drivers. Tens of thousands of southbound drivers use those express lanes every morning, and with that option gone, they had to stay in the main line, creating a daily five-mile backup to the Edmonds exit down to Northgate.
“We know that it was difficult for travelers, particularly for southbound in the morning on I-5,” Pearce said. “People did well at adapting and using other transportation methods and adjusting their schedules. It went relatively well.”
WSDOT is using all the data it collected during that month of closures and is using to help with congestion this time around.
Here’s the setup going forward
Northbound I-5 will be closed through the downtown corridor all weekend. When it reopens on Monday, only the right two lanes will be open until June 5. That weekend, the entire northbound freeway will be closed to remove the work zone.
The work will take a break during the World Cup until July 10. Then, northbound I-5 will be reduced to just two left lanes until the end of the year. The end date hasn’t been released. It was originally scheduled to wrap up in November.
This is going to cause significant delays around Seattle. My best advice is to alter your schedule and get on the road at least an hour earlier than normal.
And if you think you’ll just jump on the light rail out of Lynnwood to avoid the backup, you’re going to need a plan. That parking lot is full by 7 a.m. most mornings. It will likely be filled earlier than that going forward.
Chris Sullivan is a traffic reporter for KIRO Newsradio. Read more of his stories here. Follow KIRO Newsradio traffic on X.
Follow @https://twitter.com/newsguysully
As the holiday season ends, a new week begins, and one of the biggest events this week will be 2026’s first West Seattle Art Walk. The second Thursday is as early as it can get this month – on the 8th – so set your calendar for this Thursday as a special night to get out and enjoy the work of local artists. A preview with this quarter’s map/list and Thursday highlights should appear early in the week on the West Seattle Art Walk website. As usual, neighborhood organizations are supporting clusters of venues in Alki, Admiral, The Junction, and Morgan Junction; places with artist receptions usually start them at 5 pm. No Art of Music performances this month; that feature is on hiatus until later in the year.
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