Seahawks Gut Out Thursday night win in Chicago, NFC West fate still uncertain

“Just how we drew it up, exactly what we expected, 6-3,” Macdonald joked. “It’s not easy to come across the country in a short week, play in an atmosphere like that. So our guys deserve a lot of credit for their poise. We stuck together the whole way, we faced some adversity throughout the game. Our defense just deserve a lot of credit, man. They played really hard. Even when (the Bears) made some incredible plays – you got to give their quarterback a lot of credit, so we just kept at it fight, and then you defended a blade of grass at the end of the day and the boys did a great job.

For the Seahawks, Thursday’s win, while lacking style points, was an important bounce-back performance for a team with its back against the wall after two straight losses to the Packers and Vikings. After Sunday’s loss to Minnesota, the Seahawks had to immediately turn their attention to this game, getting physically fit while also getting in enough prep work before leaving for Chicago on Wednesday afternoon after giving players, coaches and staff a chance to start their day later than usual. to be home on Christmas morning. Despite those challenges, the Seahawks were able to execute at a high level, especially on defense, to improve to 9-7 this season, including a 6-1 mark on the road.

“Go on a short week, on Thursday, and get your bodies right to play and play the right way,” Macdonald said. “You have to be able to play the right way to win in this league. I think this is an opportunity for a shoutout to our support team. (Vice President of Player Performance) Sam Ramsden, (Head Strength and Conditioning Coach) Ivan Lewis and his crew got those guys – their bodies were big for us.

According to Jarran Reed, one of Seattle’s many defensive standouts on Sunday, who gave him a game ball from Macdonald in the postgame celebration, the key to preparing for this short week was meetings, lots of meetings.

“Man, that was a lot,” Reed said with a laugh. “A lot of meetings, I was tired of the meetings. I had my kids here, it was Christmas, it was meetings, it was more meetings, then a review, then meetings again, then another review, then meetings, meetings, meetings I told them yesterday, I said, ‘I’m tired of seeing you.’ Then we had another meeting this morning.”

This 6-3 Seahawks win was hardly the first low-scoring Thursday night, and perhaps the lack of preparation has to do with what Smith outlined.