How Mike Macdonald is spinning ‘run it back’ ahead of Seahawks’ Super Bowl defense

May 27, 2026 - 04:00

While the Seattle Seahawks won the Super Bowl just a few months ago, you’d never know it from the verbiage Mike Macdonald has chosen to use in the months since.

Are the Seahawks fighting to run it back? Are they looking to defend their title against at least 14 other teams over the next eight months on the way to another Super Bowl? Or are they looking to simply maintain the process that won the Big Game in the first place, treating 2026 with the same energy as 2025? Well, when asked about the Seahawks’ early strategy of avoiding the defending-champion rhetoric during his OTA media availability session, Mike Macdonald doubled down on his previous comments, noting that he wants to “run it forward” instead of running it back.

“They’ve been great. We’re using the term, we want to run it forward. It meaning our process and who we are. I think this is going to be a conversation that, you know, something that we’re going to talk about consistently. I don’t think it’s a one-and-done type of conversation,” Macdonald said.

“Really, it’s just how we talk about, how we operate all the time. You know, it’s something that we were having conversations with our team and our units every day about who we want to be and how we want to do things. And this situation is no different. So it’s really nothing more than, or less than that.”

Is Macdonald being a little too cute about his championship win? Some would certainly say so, but at the same time, he was able to bring another Lombardi back to Seattle, so who knows? Maybe Macdonald’s strategy is right on the money.

#Seahawks HC Mike Macdonald says the team isn’t talking about defending its Super Bowl or “running it back.”
Instead, the phrase internally is: “We want to run it forward,” with the “it” referring to their process and identity as a team. pic.twitter.com/055rmwwEw5
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) May 27, 2026