Nearly all people currently involved with the Seattle Seahawks were not with the team when Seattle played the New England Patriots in Super Bowl 48. As all 12s know, the end of that game went a different way than it should have. Even head coach Mike Macdonald, who was not with that iteration of the team, knows it.
But because some in the media, or associated with the media, feel the need to ask silly questions during media week ahead of any given Super Bowl, Macdonald was asked about what he would do if his team had the ball with 26 seconds left in the game and 2nd-and-goal from the 1-yard line.
The question was obviously asked to elicit a negative response. The game happened 11 years ago and has nothing to do with the current team. Some people want to know whether Mike Macdonald would hand the ball to Marshawn Lynch instead of allowing his offensive coordinator call a slant pass that would be intercepted.
Seattle Seahawks' Mike Macdonald delivers perfect response to Marshawn Lynch question
Four times the question was posed to Macdonald during Opening Night of media week. Most certainly, each time Macdonald thought to himself, "Can people not ask better questions?
Yet, he was ready with a response, and it might have unintentionally thrown former head coach Pete Carroll under the bus. That was likely not Macdonald's intent, but he at least gave an honest answer.
Macdonald quipped to what he would do in the situation with, "Is Beast Mode in the backfield?"
Let's do something that Mike Macdonald wouldn't do (and shouldn't have to). Was the call to have Russell Wilson attempt to complete a slant pass to wide receiver Ricardo Lockette ultimately a terrible call? Absolutely, but a bit over 60 times the play had been called previously by other teams in short-yardage situations, and it had worked every time.
The call wasn't ultimately the problem. It was the execution.
Still, the Seattle Seahawks, New England Patriots, and everyone watching Super Bowl 48 know what should have happened: Seattle should have had Wilson turn and hand the ball to Lynch. If it didn't work on second down, the call should have been the same on third and fourth downs, too.
The Patriots' stopping Lynch from scoring three straight times from the one was unlikely, but that opportunity was taken away. So, would current Seattle Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald trust offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak to do something different than former OC Darrell Bevell did? Of course, just as most coaches would give the ball to Marshawn Lynch in that situation.