John Schneider, Mike Macdonald and Geno Smith had been under fire for several weeks – dating back to the bad loss to the Giants that dropped the Seahawks to 3-2.
Since then, they had fallen to 4-5 – with the defense getting gashed game after game and Smith and the offense making tons of self-defeating mistakes.
The reputations of Schneider, Macdonald and Smith were waning along with their season as they prepared to play the 49ers, who had beaten them six straight times (counting playoffs). But Macdonald’s recalibrated defense and Smith’s rediscovered comeback mojo gave the desperate Hawks a much-needed 20-17 upset win, putting the Seahawks back in the NFC West race.
Back at .500 with a streak-busting win, the Hawks now need to take that confidence into a battle for first place against Arizona in Week 12.
The question is whether this big win over the 49ers foretells more big wins to come in a season that still presents a lot of tough challenges – the ninth-toughest remaining slate.
Let’s look at the role of each of the three central figures in how this team sank to 4-5 and then finally beat the 49ers.
Schneider has had a rough 2024
When Macdonald was hired, his big personnel needs were interior offensive linemen, linebackers, safeties, tight ends and a big nose tackle to anchor his defense. As always, it was Schneider’s job to find those players. As always, it was a struggle.
Schneider’s collection of veteran moves this year has been his worst since 2020, when his top transactions included overpaying Greg Olsen and Bruce Irvin and trading for Jamal Adams.
In 2024 free agency, Schneider signed 11 guys, and he made seven trades involving players (adding five, removing four). He also drafted eight guys. Of those 24 added players, 14 are still on the 53 and four are on IR.
Trade acquisitions Ernest Jones and Roy Robertson-Harris have been the best of them, with Byron Murphy showing flashes. George Fant has been injured for most of the season, Ray Jenkins has been on IR for weeks as well, and the rest of the players have been average or worse.
OFFENSIVE LINE: The GM signed four veterans and drafted three, but Tremayne Anchrum did not make the team and Nick Harris was traded after Schneider signed Connor Williams in August. Fant has been injured almost all season. And then Williams stunningly retired just before this game against the 49ers.
The lineup that beat the 49ers included only one of Schneider’s 2024 additions, Laken Tomlinson. Fans had been calling for Olu Oluwatimi to replace the struggling Williams, and the 2023 fifth-round pick had an excellent start as he stepped in alongside Tomlinson and Anthony Bradford. Abe Lucas finally made his season debut and looked solid as well. The unit fared well enough in pass protection while continuing to struggle in run blocking (just 94 yards and another huge whiff on a fourth-and-1). That is an area where they have to improve – they are last in rushing EPA — if they are going to beat some of the tough teams coming up.
DEFENSE: Just one of the five veteran defenders Schneider signed is even on the roster right now: Johnathan Hankins. With Ray Jenkins and K’von Wallace on IR, holdover Coby Bryant has stepped in opposite Julian Love at safety, and the two free-agent linebackers were recently dumped (Jerome Baker in a trade for Ernest Jones and Tyrel Dodson simply waived).
Jones played a great game against the 49ers (13 tackles, seven for gains of 3 yards or less) and has been Schneider’s best 2024 addition; Macdonald said he wants him to “be here for an extended period of time.”
Otherwise, this team is largely depending on players Schneider acquired in 2022 and 2023 through the “Russell Wilson” drafts and the few key vets (Smith, DK Metcalf, Tyler Lockett, Jason Myers and Michael Dickson) who predate those young guys. Fifteen starters were acquired in 2022-23, so the success of this season relies largely on Schneider’s previous roster work.
Mike Mac is learning and adapting
Macdonald is a rookie coach, and it certainly has shown this year. His team has been very error prone, leading the NFL in penalties through their first nine games and making tons of other errors that have cost them games against the Giants, 49ers and Rams. The Hawks should be at least 7-3 at this point.
But Schneider failed to improve the offensive line, Macdonald put too much on his defense too soon, and his rookie OC, Ryan Grubb, has had a lot of trouble scheming past a bad offensive line, no run game and all of the errors his unit has made.
Macdonald has seemed to learn from his early mistakes.
DEFENSE: Macdonald made a great move to simplify his defense before they played the Rams, and the past two games have been so much better on that side – even if the pass rush still is not very effective and they are still giving up some unbelievable third-down conversions.
“We’re doing the things that we do best,” said Devon Witherspoon, who tipped a pass that was caught by Hankins vs. the 49ers. “We make other teams have to play off of us, so that’s what it really is. Mike (has) been in his bag (of tricks) lately, and we’re just bringing it to light.”
Macdonald likes the direction his reworked defense is heading: “As a defense, it was a winning performance (vs. the 49ers), with room to grow, which is exciting. It’s good football. It’s some of our best football, but it’s not our absolute best.”
He knows the base pass rush has been weak and they need to be much tighter on third downs (they rank 18th at 40%).
“There (are) things we’re going to be chasing as well like third-down effectiveness, how well we’re rushing the quarterback with four, some of the communication as the drive starts to extend,” Macdonald said. “Those are things we have to be really good at to take the next step as a defense.”
Has Smith regained his confidence?
The quarterback was carrying the offense early in the season, doing a great job of evading the rush, stepping up and sticking tight throws on his receivers.
But the poor protection caught up with him a few weeks ago. He has been skittish and gun shy since the Giants game, when he was sacked seven times. He had bad games against the 49ers, Bills and Rams – throwing six picks in those losses and straight up costing his team the Rams game (Seattle should have won by something like 30-13 instead of losing in OT).
He threw a terrible pick on Sunday against the 49ers and held the ball too long for much of the game. But Smith returned to his early-season form on the winning drive – moving to make throws and using his feet to get the winning touchdown.
The fact that Smith has been leading the NFL in pass attempts and yards is no feather in his cap – it is just a sign that the Hawks have no running game (just 94 yards in the win over the 49ers).
With Lucas back, hopefully the Hawks will run it better and Smith will feel more comfortable stepping into throwing lanes again. The Seahawks’ playoff hopes certainly depend on it.
After throwing three picks and costing the Hawks a win vs. the Rams in Week 9, Smith told Macdonald he would “make it right.”
After scoring the winning touchdown vs. the 49ers, he said, “Today was just a step in that direction, but we’ve got a long ways to go.”
If the Hawks get the best from Macdonald and Smith down the stretch and Schneider’s roster — despite minimal help from his 2024 additions — keeps playing like it did vs. the 49ers, the Hawks might turn into a team that can go a long way.
CHAWK TALK: Everything being said about the Seahawks 
Seaside Joe points out that Schneider invested ~70M in this year’s free agent group and has gotten almost nothing out of it.
After forty starts, it’s safe to say that Geno Smith is erratic. He makes great passes and ugly passes, leads convincing game-winning drives and disappears for long stretches. The game-winning drives may leave fans cheering, but they are often needed because of Geno’s earlier poor play. IMO, an erratic QB will always break your heart in the end.
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