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The Seattle Seahawks head coach, Mike Macdonald, has made consistency a defining theme of his first season, and that mindset has not changed now that the stakes are higher. As Seattle prepares to host the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Divisional Round, Macdonald is deliberately stripping away the noise that often surrounds playoff football.
After earning a first-round bye and the No. 1 seed, Seattle finally learned late Sunday who it would face next. For Macdonald, the opponent mattered less than the process. Speaking about his message to the team, the head coach explained that he wants players to focus on routine rather than spectacle.
“This is the message, right? It’s, ‘Hey, it’s the playoffs,’ but this is Week 19. This is the 19th week of the season for us. I think that’s right — Week 19 and it’s Thursday,” said Macdonald.
Macdonald expanded on that idea by detailing exactly where his attention and the team’s should be. Instead of emphasizing playoff narratives, he stressed preparation details that have defined Seattle’s weekly rhythm all season.
“So, I’m thinking about how we’re going to play the red zone today and some of the early-down stuff we’ve got to fix from yesterday, and how the third-down game plan looks in all phases,” coach Macdonald added. “That’s what I expect our team to be thinking about what can we accomplish right now within our power to get ready for our Week 19 game. You start again, you start making it bigger and you start including all the other stuff out there, and that takes you away from how we want to play and how we want to operate. So, that’s how we approach it.”
The Seahawks are facing a familiar foe for the second straight week after beating San Francisco 13-3 in Santa Clara in Week 18 to clinch the NFC West and home-field advantage. That game was defined by Seattle’s dominance on the ground, piling up a season-high 180 rushing yards. However, Macdonald has cautioned internally that a playoff rematch rarely mirrors the regular-season result.
San Francisco enters the high-powered matchup after a road win over the Philadelphia Eagles in the Wild Card Round. With both teams splitting the first two games, Seattle is preparing for major adjustments from the 49ers.
As kickoff approaches at Lumen Field, Macdonald’s “Week 19” philosophy reflects a forward-looking belief — that staying disciplined, detailed, and present gives the Seahawks their best chance to extend their season.
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