SAN FRANCISCO — It’s easy for any team, especially during a rebuild, to become so engrossed in getting itself on track that it forgets the rest of the NFL is trying to do the same.
Even the Seahawks, the morning after winning Super Bowl LX against the Patriots, are fixed on improving for next season as everyone takes aim at them. They won’t just sit and wait for the Bears and others to catch up. Instead, they’re looking to widen the gap.
“We use the term ‘chasing edges’ here in Seattle,” coach Mike Macdonald said Monday. “You have to live like that… We want to be on the forefront of things. We know that we’re Target No. 1 now.”
The Seahawks quietly dominated in the regular season, going 14-3 in a very tough NFC West and leading the league with a plus-191 scoring differential. The Bears, for comparison, were plus-26.
With the No. 1 scoring defense, the Seahawks steamrolled the 49ers and outlasted the Rams to reach the Super Bowl, then blanketed the Patriots for a 29-13 win at Levi’s Stadium for the second championship in franchise history. They held the Patriots scoreless until early in the fourth quarter, and most or all of that defense will be back next season.
The numbers on it were scary for any team that thinks assumes it’ll be able to run its offense normally against the Seahawks.
They sacked quarterback Drake Maye six times for a net loss of 53 yards and held him to a 79.1 passer rating after he led the NFL at 113.5 during the regular season. Patriots running backs TreVeyon Henderson and Rhamondre Stevenson combined to average 96.7 yards rushing per game during the regular season, but totaled 42 Sunday. Wide receiver Stefon Diggs had a pedestrian 37 yards on three catches.
The Patriots’ offense was second in the NFL at 28.8 points per game this season. The challenge won’t be any less daunting for the Bears.
For the Bears to get a firm grasp on what they need to do, they need a clear view of what the Seahawks have. Going 11-6 and getting bounced out of the playoffs in the divisional round won’t be celebrated again. There’s no point in enduring a rebuild unless the goal is to fight for a championship.
The Seahawks won with an exceptional defense and a good offense. That made things easier for quarterback Sam Darnold, and he took full advantage of it.
No one considers Darnold a superstar, but it’s time to recalibrate the scouting reports. He wasn’t merely along for the ride this season, though he was unremarkable in the Super Bowl. He was in the top 11 in passer rating, yardage and touchdown passes this season.
The Seahawks’ formula went against the trend, but they proved defense can still win. Macdonald, just 38, is the first defensive-minded head coach to capture a title since Bill Belichick seven years ago and is believed to be the first coach who was his team’s defensive play caller to win a Super Bowl.
Essentially, he’s the defensive version of what the Bears believe they found in Johnson.
Johnson and Williams will get their shot at the Seahawks’ defense, maybe even in the season opener, with a visit to Seattle on the schedule for next season.
Rams coach Sean McVay got quarterback Matthew Stafford back, and they’ve already been seething for weeks in anticipation of going after them again. The Lions are loaded, too. The Cowboys and 49ers can put up points with the best of them.
The NFC is full of explosive offenses that will spend their offseason innovating, analyzing and upgrading to give themselves a chance to take down the reigning champs.
“It’s really going to be our mentality for us to keep pushing the envelope with our personnel and where we can take things,” Macdonald said. “There’s going to be times where teams get a beat on us and we’re going to have to move and shake, and that’s happened several times this season. That’s just how we operate.”
The bright spot for the Bears is that this conversation is much different than the one they usually have this time of year.
The Super Bowl frequently has been a slap of reality that leaves them no doubt about how lost they are compared to champions like the Eagles, Chiefs and Rams. Instead, after a season in which they asserted themselves as a real threat in the NFC, they’re examining how close they might be able to get to the Seahawks, rather than how far away.