The Seattle Seahawks are going to the Super Bowl. In a year where most people picked the Rams or the 49ers to win the NFC West, the Seahawks — under second-year HC Mike Macdonald — not only won their division and earned the NFC’s No. 1 seed, but beat both San Francisco and Los Angeles on their way to the Super Bowl. Seattle is now favored over New England in a rematch of Super Bowl XLIX.
It’s been a monster season for Macdonald, leading the Seahawks from a fringe playoff team to an absolute juggernaut in record time. With so much young talent scattered around their roster, the Seahawks will be a force to be reckoned with for years to come.
Seattle Seahawks HC Mike Macdonald on CB Riq Woolen’s Critical Taunting Penalty
GettySANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA – JANUARY 03: Jauan Jennings #15 of the San Francisco 49ers carries the ball against Riq Woolen #27 of the Seattle Seahawks during the second quarter of a game at Levi’s Stadium on January 03, 2026 in Santa Clara, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows for the Seahawks on Sunday night, however. Late in the third quarter, with Seattle leading 31-20, the Rams tried to throw a deep over route to All-Pro WR Puka Nacua to convert a third-and-long in Seahawks territory. Embattled Seahawks CB Riq Woolen blanketed Nacua on the route and managed to undercut it, nearly coming up with the interception. Even though he couldn’t squeeze it, Woolen forced the Rams to punt with the Seahawks up two scores.
Except Woolen got a little too excited and started chirping the Rams’ sideline, getting in the face of one of their assistant coaches. The officials caught him and threw a flag for taunting, granting the Rams 15 yards and an automatic first down. On the very next play, Nacua torched Woolen on a corner route, scoring a touchdown to bring the Rams within four.
Needless to say, it wasn’t the finest sequence for Woolen. The Seahawks didn’t allow the Rams to score again after that, but that’s an incident Macdonald described as a teaching moment.
“I think it was a good exercise in what we want our team to think,” Macdonald said on Monday on the Seattle Sports radio show. “Like, it’s okay to be emotional for a second, but then you have to come down to center and go to the next play. But I certainly wasn’t happy, wasn’t excited about it. I know we wanna live in the death zone, but that was one we could’ve avoided. Yeah, and then honestly, I made a bad playcall the next time. I mean, that’s a play Riq feels like he should’ve been able to make, but I can help him out as well. So I was pretty pissed at the playcall too.”
The Seattle Seahawks Are Going to the Super Bowl
If you had predicted the Seahawks would face the Patriots in Super Bowl LX before the season, everyone would have called you crazy. Yet here we are, watching Macdonald lead his Seahawks against Mike Vrabel’s Patriots in Vrabel’s first season as the head coach in New England.
The Seahawks will be favored, but Seattle will still have a tough task ahead of them. The Patriots boast a strong defense and a relentless offense — though the Seahawks may have just beaten a better team in the Rams to get here.
Seahawks HC Mike Macdonald Sends Strong Message on Riq Woolen Taunting Penalty