Vorel: Mike Macdonald is biggest reason Seahawks are in NFC championship game

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By Mike Vorel, The Seattle Times

SEATTLE — Mike Macdonald set the path to this point.

On Wednesday, the Seahawks posted a video of Macdonald’s first team meeting on social media. It was April 8, 2024, and the fresh-faced 36-year-old coach faced the cast he inherited from Pete Carroll. He faced a team with a frustratingly fixed ceiling, and a single playoff win in the previous seven years. He faced the weight of enormous opportunity, the kind that propels some and exposes others. He faced Leonard Williams, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Devon Witherspoon and more.

He faced the future, a path he had yet to pave.

“One of the things I want you guys to feel going through this program is that we have a vision for you and this football team,” Macdonald said, with a sheet in one hand and a clicker in the other. “I want us to take a minute here and fast-forward to January at the NFC championship. It’s 30-something degrees. It’s wet. It’s windy. It’s [expletive] for them, but it’s just right for us. We’re loose. We’re focused. We’re confident. We just spent the last nine months stacking every opportunity.

“The team across from us in the other locker room, they’ve seen the tape. They know what they’re in for — 11 guys playing as one, every snap. They know that we’re like that. They know they’re facing a bunch of men that won’t give up. They know they’re facing a team that won’t die, that won’t quit. They know. It’s inevitable. So let’s go to work.”

Macdonald’s vision was inevitable. We know that now.

But the path had potholes. Twenty-one months, one starting quarterback, one offensive coordinator, one erratic wide receiver and several starting linebackers later, the Seahawks are here. On Sunday they’ll host the Los Angeles Rams in the NFC championship game — after securing a division title, home-field advantage and the No. 1 playoff seed. After dispatching the San Francisco 49ers decisively, in back to back games. After showing the world that they’re like that.

This is not an accident or a coincidence. It’s a masterpiece made of a million brush strokes. It’s a path paved with bricks, with sweat and blood and grit, by grinders bought into a larger goal. Forging the future. Making it real.

As Seahawks linebacker Ernest Jones IV said after Saturday’s 41-6 divisional round win over San Francisco: “Mike’s the biggest thing — just being able to start Day 1 [and say], ‘Hey, this is what type of team we’re going to be. But we can’t be that team unless we work for it.’ He’s constantly had us working at it.”

Perfection was never the point. Quite the contrary.

Macdonald is the biggest reason the Seahawks are here. Because his ego has never been bigger than his hunger to grow. Because he’s laid bricks alongside everyone else.

“I think what makes Mike special is he practices what he preaches,” said Williams, a second-team All-Pro in his second season with Macdonald. “He’s always talking about chasing edges. He’s always talking about what’s important now. He openly will talk to us about what he has to work on as a coach. He talks about where he lacks and where he wants to grow.

“You see the growth. I think him setting that standard as a leader seeps into the rest of the team and allows us to feel like we can be that same way. It allows us to show vulnerabilities where we’re weak and let other guys know that’s where we need to grow. It just creates an open dynamic where, when we’re in the film room and we’re coaching things, you don’t see guys getting offended. It’s like, ‘OK, this is something we need to attack.’ We’re not attacking the player. We’re attacking the problem.”

Macdonald and general manager John Schneider — who on Thursday was named NFL Executive of the Year by the Pro Football Writers of America — have spent 21 months attacking problems. When the Seahawks’ run defense struggled in 2024, they traded for Jones and instantly improved. When quarterback Geno Smith and wide receiver DK Metcalf requested trades, they signed Sam Darnold and Cooper Kupp, elevated Smith-Njigba … and upgraded. When the Seahawks offense sputtered, they fired coordinator Ryan Grubb and hired Klint Kubiak. When the offensive line lacked, they drafted North Dakota State standout Grey Zabel.

When key contributors went down, they inserted Drake Thomas, Ty Okada, Josh Jones, Brandon Pili, Patrick O’Connell, Cody White, Dareke Young, etc., and won anyway.

When the Rams torched a typically dominant defense for 581 total yards, 457 passing yards, 26 first downs, 6.6 yards per play and four touchdowns on Dec. 18 … well, just you wait.

Do you have any doubt Macdonald will respond Sunday?

“Any time the result doesn’t go your way, I got a big hand in how we play, too,” said Macdonald, whose defense allowed an NFL-best 17.2 points per game in the regular season. “There’s several [play calls] in that game that you want back. It stings that that’s the case, but that’s the case. So you’ve got to confront it and say, ‘OK, what are the things we can do throughout the week to put ourselves in better situations, where we can help our guys out more?’

“That’s the mentality. It was the same thing after [a loss to] Tampa Bay. You can feel it in real time. When your guys are in a certain position and it’s not necessarily advantageous for them, it turns out that’s on the design of the play and what you’re asking them to do.”

Macdonald’s vision was inevitable only because the Seahawks made it so.

And the message, like the path, was peppered with potholes.

When asked about his suddenly viral speech Wednesday, Macdonald smiled and said: “It’s funny, when [Seahawks chief communications officer Dave Pearson] showed me that, all I was thinking about was how nervous I was going to the first team meeting. I don’t know if you could tell. That was a good editing job by our people. There’s probably some more awkward pauses throughout that. …

“Everybody talks about what your first message to the team is going to be. It’s really overblown, frankly. You think about, ‘What am I going to talk to the team about? What’s the first thing? I don’t want to say the wrong thing.’ But it just came to me. I think God just allowed me to take the pressure away and said, ‘This is what you should say.’ It was pretty powerful. It’s pretty awesome.”

As was the path from purgatory to the brink of a Super Bowl.

But Macdonald’s forecast was less prophetic. Meteorologists call for dry skies Sunday.

The Seahawks will have to make life [expletive] for the Rams in other ways.

2026 Pioneer Press Treasure Hunt Clue 6

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This is the year we hid it here

Where it was once said to have lain

In the woods by the lake you may catch a break

That may end in a toast of champagne

Hunt clues will be released at about midnight at TwinCities.com/treasurehunt each day of the hunt.

See the Treasure Hunt rules.

Where has the medallion been discovered in past years?

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Kaprizov plays the OT hero as Wild finally win at home

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Kirill Kaprizov scored early in overtime as the Minnesota Wild won at home for the first time in more than a month, coming from behind three times to beat the Detroit Red Wings 4-3 on a frigid Thursday night.

Mats Zuccarello recorded his first multi-goal game of the season for the Wild, who had not won at Grand Casino Arena since Dec. 20, but had gone 6-2-2 on the road since then. Minnesota got 31 saves from Filip Gustavsson and a power play goal from Kaprizov.

Lucas Raymond had a pair of goals for Detroit, which had won seven of its last eight before Thursday. The Red Wings got 35 saves from Cam Talbot in the game.

Special teams were the first period specialty for both teams, as Detroit took the early lead on the game’s first power play, and the Wild drew even the same way. On their first power play of the game, Mats Zuccarello made one of his patented cross-ice passes to Kaprizov for a wide-angle shot that slipped past the Red Wings goalie. For Kaprizov, it was his 26th goal of the season, and snapped a frustrating five-game streak that he had gone without scoring – his longest drought of the season.

The Wild dominated the offensive zone on a second period power play, getting five shots on the Wings goalie and getting another through that clanked the crossbar. But the go-ahead goal was not to be. Instead it was Detroit taking its second lead of the game when Lucas Raymond got lost behind the Minnesota defenders and slipped a low shot past Gustavsson. It was the second goal of the game for Raymond, who will be Gustavsson’s ally with Team Sweden next month in the Winter Olympics.

Minnesota again tied it on the opening shift of the third, when Zuccarello’s easy backhand flip made its way through traffic to the back of the net. And again Detroit had an answer, when James Van Riemsdyk spun away from a defender for a tap-in at the top of the Minnesota crease. And Zuccarello responded just 36 seconds later, cleaning up a mess in front of the Detroit net with his second goal of the period.

With five key veterans missing their just-completed three-game road trip, the Wild got 40% healthier on Thursday, with the return of second-line forwards Joel Eriksson Ek and Marcus Johansson. Eriksson Ek had missed the previous six games, and Johansson the previous three, both of them with lower body injuries.

Forward Matt Boldy and defensemen Zach Bogosian and Jonas Brodin are still unavailable, with Brodin not expected to return until after the Olympic break, as it was revealed on Thursday that he had undergone surgery for a lower body injury.

The Wild will make their lone visit to Detroit this season on Easter Sunday, April 5.

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Bulls rally past Timberwolves

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MINNEAPOLIS — Coby White scored 22 points, Josh Giddey added 21 off the bench, and Jalen Smith converted two clutch free throws late to lift the Chicago Bulls to a 120-115 over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Thursday night.

Chicago overcame a 14-point, first-half deficit and also withstood a 13-0 run from Minnesota in the fourth quarter. White hit a clutch 3-pointer from the corner to keep it a one-point game with 1:06 to play.

Chicago Bulls guard Ayo Dosunmu (11) and Minnesota Timberwolves guard Mike Conley (10) try to gain possession of the ball during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

After White’s corner 3-pointer, Minnesota committed a pair of costly turnovers in the final minute. Jaden McDaniels lost the ball out of bounds for Minnesota, and Chicago’s Tre Jones made a layup at the other end with 31.1 seconds to play. Smith then converted at the line with 11 seconds remaining, and Minnesota failed to hit a shot in its next possession.

Julius Randle, who was on the injury report with left foot soreness, had a team-high 30 points for Minnesota, but also committed a late turnover. Anthony Edwards and Naz Reid each added 20 points, and McDaniels scored 16 in the loss.

After White was whistled for a travel with 2:08 to play, both teams traded baskets in the ensuing possessions. Edwards hit a shot in the lane and Smith responded with a dunk. McDaniels then converted a corner 3-pointer to put Minnesota up 115-111. But that ended up being the last points scored by the Timberwolves. Chicago went on a 9-0 run in the final 1:06.

The loss was a season-high fourth in a row for Minnesota. Chicago has won three straight.

Fouls were an issue for Minnesota. Edwards got into early foul trouble and finished with five fouls. The Bulls shot 33 free throws — hitting 27 — compared to 15 attempts at the line for the Wolves.

Next up, the Timberwolves host Golden State at 4:30 p.m. Saturday, with the game to be televised on KSTP, Ch. 5.