For the first time since November 2025, the Seattle Seahawks lost a consequential game. The Washington Commanders spoiled Sam Darnold’s return, winning 33-31.
After getting punched in the mouth for the first time in a long time, you might think the Seahawks and head coach Mike Macdonald would sulk a little, but at Monday’s press conference, Macdonald focused on the positives.
Lessons can be learned sometimes more in losses than wins, and Macdonald is taking the loss as a great learning opportunity for the team.
Defensive Effort
When a team lets up 33 points, there’s not usually much positive to take away, but after watching the film, Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald liked the defensive effort he saw.
Ari Horton and John Boyle of Seahawks.com wrote about Macdonald’s takeaways in their September 28 article.
“When you watch the tape, when you talk about a play style, I think our guys played incredibly hard, they played physical,” Macdonald said. “I thought we took a lot of shots at the ball, the ball just didn’t come out. There were a couple of opportunities in the pass game where maybe we could have made the ball come to life. I know it kind of sounds weird coming off a loss, but our effort—I’m really proud of the way our guys played, our mentality. I really love our group, and they played really hard. It shows you the importance of team football, and also understanding situations, how we can play it better. I think that’s why the guys are disappointed, because there were some situations that we probably could have taken better advantage of to put our team in a better position to win the game.”
Macdonald was proud of the team’s mentality and mental toughness despite the loss, but the players on the field know the defense needs to clean up penalties moving forward.
Attention to Detail
The Seahawks have been one of the most prepared and consistent teams in the NFL for over a year, but last Sunday against the Commanders, they were reminded of the price of even lagging slightly on details.
In his September 27 article, John Boyle of Seahawks.com wrote that Seahawks players like outside linebacker Demarcus Lawrence felt like the team beat itself.
“It’s just all about us. I feel like us as a team, we feel like we beat ourselves, with not getting the ball on defense, cheap penalties, stuff like that,” Lawrence said. “We understand the quality of football that we know how to play; it’s all about getting back in the lab and getting back to it.”
On paper, the Seahawks played well on defense, holding the Commanders to just 248 total yards and 2.6 yards per carry, but a lack of turnovers and drive-extending penalties ultimately led to the defense’s downfall.
Linebacker Ernest Jones IV echoed Lawrence’s comments that the team was disappointed, but not discouraged, by its performance against the Commanders.
“The feeling right now, we’re disappointed,” Jones said. “We didn’t execute. Hat’s off to them, they executed, they made the plays when the plays needed to be made. But on our side, we just didn’t execute. It was sloppy play from the beginning to the end, all three levels. We’re not down, we’ve been here before, we’ve lost games. We’ll be good.”
This Sunday, the Seahawks defense has the chance to get right back to their dominant ways against the struggling, winless Los Angeles Chargers.
Mike Macdonald Was Proud of Seahawks Defensive Effort Despite Loss