Bills player saving Seahawks from themselves is an indictment of Mike Macdonald

Seattle Seahawks fans have been forced to watch as the team started well but has had a complete meltdown since Week 4. The team is 1-4 in its last five games, and the most shocking part was that Seattle was able to get the one victory against a decent Atlanta Falcons team. That game, as it turns out, appears to have been a big lie.

Seattle is simply not a good team currently. The most worrying part is that the Seahawks seem to be getting worse. The expectation should have been that under first-year head coach Mike Macdonald, the team might stumble a bit at the beginning but then improve. This was supposed to be especially true of the defense, as it could have taken half a season for the players to acclimate to the scheme.

The defense was pretty good against Atlanta but embarrassed against the Buffalo Bills. The unit has played more since Week 4 as they did against the Bills than they did against the Falcons. The offense has been inconsistent all season but was overpowered in Week 8. At least punter Michael Dickson was good.

The Seahawks' team chemistry might be falling apart under head coach Mike Macdonald

Let's forget about the play of the defense and offense, though. Those are certainly issues Seattle has to fix, but there could be a greater concern. There could be a divide forming between the players.

Earlier this season, veteran Leonard Williams complained that some players appear to give up during games once the team has fallen behind. More recently, quarterback Geno Smith and wide receiver DK Metcalf had a spat after Metcalf had run a poor route that wound up being a Smith interception. Players arguing with each other is going to happen, but for the Seahawks, it seems to be happening more under Macdonald than it did under Pete Carroll.

The worst moment in the season might have come against the Bills after edge rusher Derick Hall had been called for a penalty for roughing Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen. Hall and teammate Jarran Reed got into an on-field argument that might have heightened further had Bills offensive lineman Dion Dawkins not helped defuse the situation.

Dawkins told reporters after the game, "For (Hall and Reed) to be fighting each other on the field, 'Bro look. Y'all are a team. Tone it down and come on. Next play...they were about to fight each other."

Something is off about the Seahawks' culture right now. There are too many signs saying that the team is not fine. Williams has complaints, Smith and Metcalf are arguing on the field, and Hall and Reed are almost about to fight. We are only eight games into a season that is spiraling downward and out of control.

Yet, head coach Mike Macdonald simply has to keep saying after losses that the team "got outplayed and outcoached, and we’ve got to go make it right." He told reporters he has been saying that same thing a lot lately. But things haven't been made right on the field, and there is a clear issue with the chemistry of the team.

Maybe Pete Carroll would have had many of the same on-field problems as Macdonald, but the most damning thing is that Macdonald doesn't seem to be able to control what is going on in the locker room either.