1 of 5 | Seattle Seahawks head coach Mike MacDonald holds the Vince Lombardi Trophy after beating the New England Patriots to win Super Bowl LX on Sunday at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif. Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo
The Seattle Seahawks’ Mike Macdonald admitted that one of his coaching flaws Saturday in San Jose, Calif., was telling his players he has a bad habit of overthinking play calls and visualizing results.
The worries that trigger the habit quickly melted away in the early portion of Sunday’s Super Bowl LX, when he felt the heat from the fire inside the men blurring by in college navy, wolf gray action green.
“I’ve got a bad habit of hemming and hawing in my office with the rest of my coaching staff thinking about plays and what we’re gonna run and how it’s gonna go,” Macdonald said Monday at the Moscone Center in San Francisco.
“Then you get around the guys and see them and all the sudden all of those worries kinda go away magically.”
It was clear from kick off that the Seahawks’ speed and intensity would be unmatched at Levi’s Stadium.
Macdonald’s Dark Side defense, which allowed the fewest points in the NFL during the regular season, disregarded the New England Patriots’ offensive line and bludgeoned MVP runner-up Drake Maye. Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold was aggressive early on before Macdonald leaned up running back Kenneth Walker III, the Super Bowl LX MVP.
“It became very clear very early that … we were going to play our style of ball last night,” Macdonald said. “At that point, really, the plays became irrelevant. It was really the style of how the guys played.
“Just to play that relentlessly throughout the game was really impressive. I’m just really proud of those guys. That was a remarkable game by our defense.”
The Patriots, who entered Super Bowl LX with the No. 3 offense No. 4 passing attack and No. 6 running game in the NFL, totaled 331 yards, including just 79 on the ground. The Seahawks’ defense sacked Maye six times and held the Patriots to their second-lowest point total this season — including the playoffs.
The Seahawks, who totaled the second-most giveaways during the regular season, also capped their unblemished playoff run by becoming the first team in NFL history to win a Super Bowl without logging a postseason turnover.
Walker singlehandedly outgained the Patriots’ offense 100-51 through the first two quarters of Super Bowl LX. With the Patriots’ loss, NFL teams are now 0-15 in the Super Bowl when shut out at halftime.
“We worked on the run game all week leading up to the game,” said Walker, who finished with 161 yards from scrimmage. “I’ve gotta give the credit to the offensive line, the wide receivers and the tight ends. They were really detailed in the running game, did their job and made my job a lot easier.”
Walker cited the Seahawks’ “brotherhood” behind their connected approach and agressive play style. But Macdonald cautioned that the Seahawks must continue to “push the envelope” to sustain success.
“We use the term ‘chasing edges’ here in Seattle,” Macdonald said. “You have to live like that. You can’t be copying everybody else. We want to be on the forefront of things. We know we are target No. 1 now. It’s really going to be our mentality for us to keep pushing the envelope with our personnel, where we can take things at our speed.
“There are going to be times we feel like people get a beat on us and we have to move and shake. That happened several times throughout this season. That’s just how we operate.”
The Seahawks plan to hold a parade for their second Super Bowl title Wednesday in Seattle.
Super Bowl LX: Seattle Seahawks defeat New England Patriots
Seattle Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold (L) embraces the Super Bowl MVP, running back Kenneth Walker III, after the Seahawks defeated the New England Patriots 29-13 to win Super Bowl LX at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on February 8, 2026. Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo
