Mike Macdonald turns suspicion into belief and results as the Seahawks become a sustainable force despite early doubts
The Seahawks sent a clear message in the Super Bowl.
The big problem when a team hires a defensive-minded head coach is how sustainable the operation will be. If the offense is good, the offensive coordinator will leave — which is exactly what’s about to happen with the Seattle Seahawks, as Klint Kubiak takes over as the Las Vegas Raiders head coach.
Nonetheless, that’s not a problem when the defensive-minded head coach is so prolific and effective that the defense is the true base of a Super Bowl-winning team. Mike Macdonald is the big reason why the Seahawks beat the New England Patriots 29-13 in Super Bowl LX, and that will keep being the franchise’s DNA moving forward.
The perfect gameplan
The Seahawks got their fair share of investments on offense in 2025, and most of them were successful. Sam Darnold at quarterback went as well as Seattle could have hoped. The offensive line played competently, Jaxon-Smith Njigba was the offensive player of the year, Kenneth Walker was decisive down the stretch.
But how Macdonald was able to utilize his pieces to exploit the Patriots’ weaknesses was very Bill Belichick-esque — an irony in a Super Bowl against New England.
On Super Bowl opening night, Macdonald gave a strong indication of his modus operandi to build a gameplan. It wasn’t going to be different for this game than it had been in the trajectory that took Seattle to this moment.
“It’s kind of like a principles-method type of thing,” Macdonald explained, “where we’re going to stick to our process. The way we want to play is we always want to be within our wheelhouse, but every game we’re going to tailor things to our opponents. At the end of the day, we’ve got to do things that we’re really good at. Right now, that’s our plan.”
Cornerback Devon Witherspoon was weaponized as a blitzer, maximizing the damage caused by Patriots rookie left tackle Will Campbell, who had already been a problem for New England throughout the postseason. He had two sacks, including a game-sealing strip-sack that was returned for a touchdown by Uchenna Nwosu in the fourth quarter.
Rookie safety Nick Emmanwori was also effective generating pressure, and the Patriots didn’t have a good enough combination of offensive line and receiving talent to make the Seahawks pay for sending extra men in pressure. Edge defender Derick Hall also helped with two sacks, one of them a strip-sack in the third quarter.
You may argue that the Patriots faced an easy schedule, and that’s a fair argument, but this was the first offense in EPA/play during the regular season. It certainly did not look like it on Sunday night.
The Seahawks will have a new offensive coordinator in 2026. They will still have to play with a non-elite quarterback in Sam Darnold. Defense tends to be more volatile and less sustainable, and the roster turnover after a Super Bowl is basically inevitable. But while the Seahawks have Mike Macdonald, the defense will have a shot at being elite year after year — and the Super Bowl was just a confirmation of that reality.
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