Seahawks-49ers: Does Macdonald have Shanahan’s number?

With two of the NFL’s brightest offensive minds residing in their own division, the Seattle Seahawks hired head coach Mike Macdonald to be the defensive counterpunch to San Francisco 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan and Los Angeles Rams coach Sean McVay.

Two years into the Macdonald era, the move has already reaped massive rewards.

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Buoyed by Macdonald’s top-ranked scoring defense, the Seahawks went a franchise-best 14-3 this season and enter the playoffs as the NFC’s No. 1 seed. And as fate would have it, the Seahawks host Shanahan’s 49ers in the Divisional Round on Saturday night – with the potential for an NFC Championship showdown against McVay’s Rams looming the following weekend.

Ahead of Saturday night’s Divisional Round clash, let’s look at how Macdonald’s defense has fared against Shanahan’s offense over the past two seasons.

Shanahan won their first clash as head coaches in Week 6 of 2024, when the 49ers racked up 483 total yards in a 36-24 victory over the Seahawks. But that came as Seattle’s defense was still experiencing some early growing pains while adjusting to Macdonald’s cutting-edge scheme.

Keep in mind, it wasn’t until the second half of 2024 that the Seahawks’ defense really took off under Macdonald.

And since then, Macdonald’s defense has largely had its way against Shanahan’s offense. Below are the 49ers’ point and yardage totals in their past three matchups against Seattle.

• Week 11, 2024 – 17 points, 277 total yards (Seattle won 20-17)
• Week 1, 2025 – 17 points, 384 total yards (San Francisco won 17-13)
• Week 18, 2025 – 3 points, 173 total yards (Seattle won 13-3)

To sum it up, over their past three meetings, the 49ers have averaged just 12.3 points and 278 total yards per game.

Furthermore, over those past three matchups, 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy has averaged just 187.7 passing yards per game, while throwing three touchdown passes and four interceptions. He’s averaged 6.3 yards per pass attempt in those three contests, which is significantly lower than his 8.6 career average.

Also, 49ers superstar running back Christian McCaffrey has averaged just 101.7 scrimmage yards per game and 4.5 yards per touch in those past three matchups against Seattle. Both are lower than the 118.9 scrimmage yards per game and 5.6 yards per touch he’s averaged over his 48-game tenure in San Francisco.

The most dominant of those three performances, of course, came just two weeks ago.

The 49ers entered their winner-take-all Week 18 showdown against Seattle looking like world beaters on offense, having averaged 42.3 points and 455.3 total yards over their previous three games.

But they were no match for the Seahawks.

With both the NFC West title and the conference’s No. 1 seed on the line, Seattle’s smothering defense completely suffocated the 49ers’ high-flying attack, limiting San Francisco to just 173 total yards in a 13-3 victory.

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It was the 49ers’ lowest point total since they scored 3 points in Shanahan’s head-coaching debut with San Francisco in Week 1 of 2017. And it was the 49ers’ fewest total yards in a regular-season game over Shanahan’s entire nine seasons at the helm.

Macdonald has quickly shifted the tides in the NFC West, building an elite defense that’s already proved plenty capable of slowing down Shanahan and McVay’s juggernaut attacks.

Macdonald and the Seahawks will look to do so again Saturday night.

More on the Seattle Seahawks

• Stacy Rost: Four numbers that matter for Seahawks-49ers
• Huard: Why Seahawks have never beat 49ers’ Brock Purdy in Seattle
• A full look at Seahawks and 49ers injury reports for playoff game
• Lefko: Seattle Seahawks hired Mike Macdonald for a moment like this
• How Schneider built Seattle Seahawks back into a title contender

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