The lobby was quiet. Rain was falling outside, as if Mother Nature wanted the Bay Area to know who was coming to town. To the left was a lonely hotel employee behind a dimly lit front desk. To the right, the hotel bar and restaurant were sprinkled with Seahawks staff, coaches, and players. Two players, Jake Bobo and Jaxon Smith-Njigba, sat in a lounge area, focused intently on the chess board between them. One would make a move. The other would counter. Bobo ultimately wound up the victor, and welcomed in his next opponent, Drake Thomas. Later, Jalen Sundell and Mason Richman sat down to play. It had the feel of a family vacation. No nerves. No loud music. As they have been so many times this season, the Seahawks were at home even when on the road. Mike Macdonald has had his team playing chess all season while the rest of the NFL is playing checkers. Never was that more clear than during a 13-3 dismantling of the rival 49ers in Santa Clara.
It is often difficult to recognize and cherish something as truly special in the moment. This Seahawks team has mixed pleasure with pain all season. Their quarterback went from the MVP conversation to meme material. Their right guard was mercilessly chided for lowlights and called the worst player in the NFL. The linebacker room was considered understocked and undersized. Their freakishly athletic corner was crushed for early season errors. One of their running backs was accused of losing a step, while the other was accused of never having one to begin with.
The Seahawks were rude to their hosts on Saturday night as they stepped all over the 49ers. Ken Walker III and Zach Charbonnet took turns hammering a weak San Francisco defense. The offensive line, even without their starting left tackle and with a hobbled backup, pushed the 49ers around from the opening snap to the final play. Sam Darnold made good decisions all evening, using his legs when it made sense, and checking the ball down.
Seattle ran the ball at will, inside and outside, with either running back and to either side. They did not turn the ball over, and possessed the ball for over 37 minutes, limiting their opponent to just eight drives. Jaxon Smith-Njigba sprinkled in some of his magic, and Cooper Kupp made some crucial catches on 3rd down. The scoreboard did not reflect how efficiently Seattle played. Their 40.1 yards per drive was their highest since their blowout against the Commanders (41.8 yds/drive).
I have talked about how the Seahawks offense was going through a reverse metamorphosis. They were the beautiful butterfly, electrifying fans with the explosive passing attack while their running game was largely nonexistent. A combination of opponent adjustments and Seahawks coaches’ foresight, led them down a path of turning this into a physical running team.
San Francisco defensive coordinator, Robert Saleh, was committed to limiting explosive plays. That left a light box for the Seahawks to run against. It felt like a 1990s Mike Tyson fight with an early knockout. A picture perfect opening drive inexplicably ended with a decision to pass the ball from the 1-yard line (STOP DOING THAT SEAHAWKS COACHES) that resulted in a sack, and eventually a turnover on downs. No matter. Seattle bludgeoned them again on the next drive, with Charbonnet breaking a big run for the lone touchdown in the game.
Grey Zabel, Anthony Bradford, and Jalen Sundell were considered the biggest question marks on the offensive line heading into the season. They dominated in this game. Bradford has been a lightning rod for critics all season. The reality is he has some very poor snaps, but what people fail to understand is that his dominant and neutral snaps far outnumber his lowlights. Zabel was brilliant in this one, working out in space and serving breakfast for dinner with 49er pancakes all over the field. Sundell might have played his best game as a pro.
These former college roommates sat shoulder-to-shoulder on folding chairs in front of their lockers with cigars dangling from their grinning mouths in a raucous postgame locker room. Sundell joked about how it felt like yesterday that he was teaching Zabel how to do laundry. Zabel reflected on how surreal the experience was to share with his friend. He planned on having a bunch of guys from the team over to his place on Sunday to watch football and drink Busch Lights.
Seattle took the riskier road by only adding a rookie to an already young offensive line this offseason. There are seven players on the line who are either in their first or second season in the NFL. The upside of the path they chose is this group has the potential to grow and stay together for years to come.
That group helped pave the way to the third straight game of over 160 yards rushing. Seattle has not accomplished that feat since 2021. It might be exactly the late-breaking growth they need to frustrate opponents in the playoffs. The Seahawks are 4th in EPA/rush over the last three games. That is quite the glow-up from a team that trotted out one of the least efficient run games in football for the first nine weeks of the season.
A team that can run the ball, limit turnovers and opponent possessions, and play elite defense, is a team that can win a Super Bowl.
Leonard Williams, Ernest Jones IV, and crew put on some kind of show for the world to see. This was the defensive equivalent of Marshawn Lynch grabbing his crotch as he crossed the goal line on the Beast Quake run. As Lynch used to say, you’ve got to stamp a special play. This defense put a stamp on a special season.
No offense was hotter coming into this game than the 49ers. Brock Purdy had scored 5 touchdowns in each of his last two games. He was prancing around the field like the game was too easy for him. He was barely able to walk off the field after this one.
Seattle’s defense was everywhere. Teams strive to be a step ahead of their opponents. Macdonald had this Dark Side with M.O.B ties crew ten steps ahead of anything and everything Kyle Shanahan threw his way. Christian McCaffrey had been back to his Offensive Player of the Year level the previous two weeks, with over 140 scrimmage yards and a collection of touchdowns. Seattle held him to 57 scrimmage yards, no touchdowns, and a lot of bruises.
There was a point in the game where McCaffrey smacked his own helmet as he entered the 49ers huddle during a commercial break, as if to psych himself up to run through someone’s face. Sure enough, he got the chance on the next play and took the handoff, determined to blow a hole in the Seahawks defense. Like the riders on horseback, carrying torches, as they hurdled toward the white walkers in Game of Thrones, his light was snuffed out.
Leonard Williams, Byron Murphy, Jarran Reed and everyone else who took the field for Seattle, reset the line of scrimmage over and over again. They bullied San Francisco in a way few Seahawks teams ever have.
It was a performance that stirred flashbacks of the Legion of Boom. More than that, it was a performance that signaled it was time to stop comparing this group to the past. Legacies will be written later. Right now, they are an impossible puzzle to solve. They are a Rubik’s Cube covered in spikes and razor blades.
There is no question this team is led by their defense. And so it should be with Macdonald at the helm. Not only are they ultra-talented, but they are equipped with more veterans, more time in the system, and more vocal leaders. It is easy to forget this is Klint Kubiak’s first year installing his offense, and most of the players on that side of the ball are young. There is reason to think they will continue to grow in year two the way this defense has.
Being led by an elite defense and a strong running game with a “good enough” quarterback was a championship formula for the Eagles last season. Seattle may not boast that running game, but their defense might be better.
Macdonald put the rest of the division on notice. The number of franchise records that fell in just his second season as head coach has Ravens fans crying into their morning coffee. I have seen the fraternity of offensive coaches at the league meeting during the offseason. They hang out like frat brothers, trading tales of their schematic brilliance. Macdonald is the growing shadow that lurks in their minds, of dark times and embarrassing results.
A lasting difference between Macdonald and guys like Sean McVay and Kyle Shanahan is his humility. He will stay grounded, even as his reputation elevates. He will look for the next way to improve and never seek the spotlight. His vision was to create a style of football that nobody else wants to play. He has done that in just his second season, and will only get better as a coach.
Now he gets his first taste of postseason football as the man in charge. His defense and offense just put together arguably the most physically dominant performance of the season. They get two weeks to rest until their next game. Charles Cross will be back. Coby Bryant will return. Elijah Arroyo may join them. What may be most terrifying to the rest of the NFL is that Macdonald and his coaching staff get two weeks to self-scout and dissect opponent game film as well.
He is 2-0 coming off a bye week in his first two seasons. Seattle beat the 49ers in San Francisco last year after the bye, and blew the doors off the Commanders after the bye this year. This is not just a defense-led team, but a defensive line-led team. Those guys tend to wear down over the course of a season more than most. The extra rest is going to be huge for guys like Williams and Reed and Murphy. Their level of dominance will be a determining factor in a Super Bowl run. Seattle does not lose when those guys eat.
Ironically, one of the most important areas of focus might be how to play their best football with the crowd noise at Lumen Field. The Rams took advantage of numerous communication breakdowns that players attributed, in part, to crowd noise. They do not want fans to get quieter. They do want to find a way to eliminate those errors.
These are 1-seed types of problems to have. For the first time since 2014, Seattle has a bye and home-field throughout the NFC portion of the playoffs. Win two games at home, and they take a short trip back down to the Bay for a chance to win a ring on their rival’s home field. Sweet dreams are made of this.
Seattle will play its first divisional round playoff game since 2019. It will be their first home divisional round game since 2014. They have never lost a divisional round game at home. They have never lost an NFC Championship game at home. This team has done their part. Now it is time for Seahawks fans to bring their best.
That quiet hotel lobby is now empty. The chess pieces have been moved, the checkmate delivered, and the board resets in Seattle. The road to the Super Bowl goes through Lumen Field, where silence goes to die. The 12s have been waiting for a team worthy of their loudest roar. They finally have one.