In his first team meeting in 2024, Mike Macdonald predicted the Seahawks would be in the NFC Championship Game.

“It’s inevitable,” he told his first group of Seahawks, which included many of the guys who beat the Rams in the NFC title game a couple weeks ago.

Macdonald did not predict a Super Bowl win, but he and his team delivered that Sunday, beating the Patriots 29-13 in Super Bowl LX. Afterward, he said he had “100% confidence” that his team would win. That’s certainly how it felt to us (we had predicted a 31-13 win).

Macdonald brought a vision to Seattle, and – along with some great help from John Schneider — he has made it come to life by creating the best defense in the NFL. It is a unit that is poised to dominate in 2026 — and probably beyond.

This unit led by Leonard Williams, DeMarcus Lawrence, Ernest Jones IV, Devon Witherspoon and Julian Love is the most dominant force in the league – a powerful crew that already rivals some of the best defenses ever to play. They proved it with a completely dominant performance in the Super Bowl.

They sacked Drake Maye six times, forced three turnovers, shut out the Patriots for three quarters and scored a touchdown.

Almost every defender stood out at one point or another. An oft-blitzing Witherspoon led the way with a sack, a tackle for loss and three QB hits, including the one that knocked the ball into Uchenna Nwosu’s hands for a 45-yard pick-six late in the game.

Derick Hall and Byron Murphy each notched two sacks and two TFLs. Hall forced a fumble that Murphy recovered in the third quarter, setting up a 37-yard touchdown drive by Sam Darnold and the offense.

Jones led the team with 11 tackles, Love also picked off Maye and Rylie Mills powered his way to his first NFL sack.

“We did a great job of rushing as one,” Williams said. “There were no individual rushers out there today. We truly did it together as one.”

“They are the best in the world, and we all know that,” said AJ Barner, who scored the only offensive TD for Seattle. “And we are world champs because of them.”

And they have every chance to be world champs again next year, because all of the key figures will return. Macdonald’s team has a very real chance to do what Pete Carroll’s 2013-14 team should have done: Win consecutive Super Bowls.

With this specific group, this is a two-year championship contender. Just four defenders – Riq Woolen, Josh Jobe, Coby Bryant and Boye Mafe — are pending free agents next month.

If this unit can replicate its feat and become the ninth repeat Super Bowl champion, what are the odds Mike Macdonald and John Schneider can keep it going?

It’s hard to predict more than three years down the road in the NFL (Schneider himself plans only three years out), but five of these guys seem assured of still being here in 2027: Jones, Love, Spoon, Murphy and Nick Emmanwori. They will all still be in their primes – Love is the oldest at 27 right now.

The wild cards are the older guys – Williams, Lawrence, Nwosu – and the younger guys with contracts coming up the next couple of years.

The area to really watch is the defensive front, which has the most talent on the team but also has some of the oldest players. Williams is playing All-Pro ball at age 31. But he is signed only through 2026, so the Hawks will need to decide whether to give him another offer for his age-33 season.

Lawrence is already 33, but he has had one of his best seasons ever. He is signed for two more seasons, but it is probably a year-to-year deal.

Jarran Reed, also 33, might not last through his deal (2027). We could see him going for the repeat in 2026 and then being let go to save about $8 million in 2027.

At edge rusher, Schneider and Macdonald have decisions to make before 2027.

Nwosu had a pleasantly surprising resurgent season. He missed 22 games the previous two, but he notched seven sacks in 16 games in 2025. He is just 29 and should be back in 2026, the final year of his redone deal. He could be extended again, or maybe Schneider packages him in a deal for the Raiders’ Maxx Crosby (more on that below).

Mafe and Hall are coming to the end of their rookie deals, Mafe this year and Hall next. The Hawks seem very likely to let Mafe go, but they could look to extend Hall. They need a couple of younger edge guys, after all.

This year, the Hawks will need to decide what they are doing at the other safety and corner spot, with Bryant, Woolen and Jobe all pending free agents. Bryant and the team could not come to terms last summer, and Woolen and Jobe both figure to command very good deals in free agency.

The Hawks probably will end up keeping one of the corners – they can afford it. But all three are really role players in this defense – Schneider and Macdonald could find and coach up replacements for any of them.

Murphy and Emmanwori are rising young superstars – just like Spoon. Murphy is in just his second season, signed for two more with a fifth-year option available to the team after that. So he is going nowhere through at least 2028. Emmanwori has three more years as well. That trio is the future of this defense.

Key role players Drake Thomas and Ty Okada are likely to be back in 2026. Thomas is an RFA, which means the Hawks probably will tender him and then maybe extend him on a two-year deal, as they sometimes do. Okada is an ERFA, under club control for 2026.

Of course, the draft will bring some reinforcements over the next two years as well. But those are unknowns, and the Hawks will be drafting at or near the bottom as they contend for the Super Bowl.

Don’t count out a trade for Crosby, the Raiders’ star pass rusher who had 10 sacks in 2025. Schneider tried to get him for Macdonald last season. The Hawks need a difference maker on their D-line to give them an edge against the Rams – the one offense that gives Macdonald’s defense trouble.

The Raiders are replacing one-and-done Carroll with Klint Kubiak. Trading Crosby could help Kubiak build up his team. It sounds like Crosby, 28, is not interested in being part of a big rebuild – considering the Raiders have failed at it using four coaches in his seven years.

Some think Crosby will merit at least two first-rounders; but, maybe Schneider could get him for a 2026 first-rounder, a Day 2 pick in 2027 and Nwosu.

If Crosby were acquired and Williams were extended, that would set up an epically dominant 2026-27 front of Williams, Crosby, Murphy and Lawrence. Schneider has the cap space to make another run at Crosby, so don’t rule out this possibility.

Even if the Crosby deal does not happen, Schneider and Macdonald will find a way to get that edge against the Rams.

Macdonald’s defense will return intact in 2026, and the coach and GM will augment to keep it elite – and hopefully competing for Super Bowls — through the end of the decade.