Mike Macdonald Drops Truth Bomb on Seahawks' Inconsistency

A week ago, the Seahawks could console themselves coming off a loss by knowing that, despite that result, they still controlled their own destiny in the NFC West. This week, that isn't true for the Seahawks, who one way or another will need a little help to win the division, even if they win their next two games. Knowing that doesn't really change the approach this week, however, with the Seahawks focused on trying to beat the Bears, then worry about everything else.

"It doesn't change it," Seahawks coach Macdonald said. "It really doesn't change your mentality, your approach. It won't change with our guys. Not worried about that one bit.

"Short week and I guess the best gift you can get after a tough loss like that is an opportunity to move forward on a short week and get going. We altered the short week schedule a little bit. Felt like our guys needed like a full recovery day so we'll get after it, get a game plan together today and then kind of double down on our work tomorrow and travel Wednesday, so that's the plan."

Here are six things we learned from Macdonald's Monday press conference:

1. Seahawks have done a lot of things well, but are "just not as consistent as we want to be right now."

Two things that were evident in Sunday's loss were that the Seahawks are good enough to go toe-to-toe with the NFL's elite, but also that they aren't consistently doing all the little things they need to do to close out some of those games. Despite an early 10-point deficit against a team that came into the game with a 12-2 record, the Seahawks battled back and took a four-point lead in the fourth quarter, but couldn't quite make the plays they needed to hold onto that lead, or to take it back.

"Our guys know what it looks like, and we've done those things at times throughout the year, we're just not as consistent as we want right now," Macdonald said. "But when we talk about December football, it's complementary. You know, we use terms like '12 as one,' but that's really what it looks like and that's why we have those terms. That's why we've talked about those things throughout the entire year and that's what we're chasing, that vision of how we want to play, but it's a rugged, it's a physicality, it's a togetherness, great situational football that you can take advantage of those windows to win games like that, but that's what it looks like."

Asked what he learned reviewing the film of the game this morning, Macdonald said, "We had our opportunities. We had our opportunities to win the game. You've got to give the Vikings a lot of credit with their track record in tight games like that, being able to play well when it matters most and we fell short, so we've got to move on. We've got to go. The destiny's out of our hands right now, and that stings, but we got a lot to play for still, and like we were talking about this morning with our staff, we're just going to keep hammering away until this thing cracks, and I think it's right there. So we want to be ready when that happens and hopefully we get an opportunity to get into the dance and go do some damage."

2. Geno Smith "played a strong game" despite the interceptions.

On Sunday, Mike Macdonald praised Geno Smith as "probably our top competitor,” and noted that if not for the play of the Pro-Bowl quarterback, the Seahawks probably wouldn't be in playoff contention at this stage of the season. A day later after reviewing the film, Macdonald's opinion of his quarterback's play hadn't changed. Yes, Smith did throw a pair of interceptions, but he also completed 72.1 percent of his pass attempts for 314 yards and three touchdowns, and he was 15 for 15 for 219 yards on those three touchdown drives.

"I thought he played good enough to win the game," Macdonald said. "He did some really great things. You know, if we get a stop when we're up four at the end of the fourth quarter, we're having a different conversation right now. Everybody wants to talk about the interceptions and rightfully so, and those are things that we're working through, but I mean, one of the reasons that we're here with life, like I said last night, is I really felt that Geno has helped put us in this position. So, I thought he played a strong game."