These two were the hottest coordinators/soon-to-be head coaches in the league last offseason
Well, how does everyone feel about the new head coach of the Seattle Seahawks? When compared to other coaching vacancies, Mike Macdonald reached an agreement with John Schneider and the Hawk gang fairly late in the process. He didn't even have time to go to the combine. Macdonald finally arrived and went to work.
He came, he hired, he sired, and he pushed a previously nine-win Seahawks team to 10 wins. Does that mean it was a success? How do fans put his performance this year, and moving forward, into the right perspective and context?
He'll get to get up close and personal with three other semi-young coaches in the NFC West: Sean McVay, Kyle Shanahan, and Jonathan Gannon. Those guys will clash annually until one or more is fired. It's tough to compare Macdonald to those coaches, though... They are at different points along the continuum of implementing their team vision. If the Seahawks are successful, it will eventually happen.
Seattle Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald might forever be compared to this 2025 coaching hire
Many will point to the franchise's previous headman, Pete Carroll, who has agreed to helm the Las Vegas Raiders. The most successful coach in the Seattle Seahawks chronicle will be building something new (which he is very good at). It's quite easy to have thoughts about what could've been had John Schneider decided to hire a familiar face in former Seattle DC, Dan Quinn.
Quinn just led one of the most successful Washington runs in a long time with his first crack at things in D.C. Nevertheless, those two men represented vestiges of the past for Schneider, who wanted to blaze a new trail in the league and investigate the new trend of hot up-and-coming coaches.
Harken back to a time (the 2024 NFL playoffs) shortly after the shocking firing of Seahawks coach Carroll. Seattle had seemingly narrowed down its options. It was between the offensive whiz, Ben Johnson, and the defensive prodigy, Mike Macdonald.
The only other head coach with a Super Bowl appearance in Seahawks history is Mike Holmgren… And he made a special appeal to John Schneider to plead his case for an offensive hire. We all know now that John ended up staying true to what is a forged Seahawks identity at this point: emphasis on the stop unit. Defense wins championships?
Was it Schneider's choice? Did Ben Johnson's decision to pull out of contention for the HC jobs in Washington and Seattle force his hand? We may never know. His choice paved the way for hope for the Commanders, Seahawks, Lions, and Bears in different ways (and likely for different lengths of time).
Will Washington and Seattle look like losers left at the altar, or be happy with their hiring decisions after all? Did Johnson really ask for record-setting money, and better yet: is he worth it? So many questions and legacies left to be defined.
Ben Johnson, Caleb Williams and the Chicago Bears will now be forever linked to this iteration of the Seattle Seahawks. Whether right or wrong, they are in sort of a diametrically opposed situation, investing in antithetically polar sides of the football. Is today's NFL more slanted towards an advantage for the offense over the defense? If B.J.'s accomplishments end up outweighing Macdonald's, fans will be left to wonder what could've been had their GM listened to Mike Holmgren.
Some 12's will not want to occupy themselves with the what ifs and the should-coulda-woulda's. I get that too, but this is too juicy of a storyline. The NFL is an unforgiving meritocracy, a cold truth Seattle was awakened to last year. This writer loves the zag into a refreshed defensive mentality while the rest of the league is zigging with their pretty little offenses.
We hope and wait to see evidence that the Seahawks hired the right man for the job. This offseason could very well be a much bigger one for him to put his fingerprints on the team. These coaches' legacies will unfold in competition with one another and over the course of the challenges of different seasons.
Maybe there is a quad pack of coaches who can all be gleefully compared side-by-side: Pete Carroll, Mike Macdonald, Ben Johnson, and Dan Quinn. Old-school vs. new-school, offense against defense. Seahawks fans will look to the future with optimism, hoping to be ahead of league trends and to see a contender once more.
The man who originally installed a championship culture, Pete Carroll, himself will be in the 'old head' division of AFC West coaching gurus. I'd say I miss football already, but there are a whole lot of comparisons to be made and lessons to be learned going into the offseason. Can't wait!
