Gregg Rosenthal has perfect two word phrase on who should be Seahawks next head coach

One coach might help the Seahawks beat the 49ers and Rams.
Scott Taetsch/GettyImages
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The Seattle Seahawks' NFC West rivals, the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Rams, have two young head coaches who are offensive-minded. The Arizona Cardinals do not count because they are, well...Arizona. But for the past 14 seasons, Seattle has had a defensive-minded head coach in Pete Carroll. Seattle lost to the 49ers and Rams a combined four times this season and Carroll no longer has a job.

There are some national pundits who think Seattle should follow the lead of San Francisco and Los Angeles and hire an offensive-minded coach themselves. Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, for instance, might be a good fit for the Seahawks. But many think Johnson will be the next head coach for the Washington Commanders.

Very possibly, the Seahawks want to stick with what they know and hire a defensive coach to replace Pete Carroll. There is logic to that reasoning. 10 times in 14 seasons under Carroll, the Seahawks made the playoffs. But NFL expert Gregg Rosenthal has a very specific reason why Seattle should specifically hire Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald and Rosenthal has the perfect two-word phrase for that.

Seattle Seahawks should be very interested in Mike Macdonald

In a tweet from earlier this week when speaking about the Seahawks' head coaching search and Macdonald, Rosenthal used this phrase, "...Shanahan-tree stopper." The "tree" that Rosenthal is referring to is not Kyle Shanahan, coach of the 49ers, but Mike Shanahan, Kyle's father. Mike Shanahan's coaching tree includes both his son, Kyle, and Rams coach, Sean McVay.

Mike Macdonald very well might have the coaching chops to get Seattle Seahawks defenses to adjust to what the Rams and 49ers are doing to Seattle. Seattle does have some excellent young talent on defense with Boye Mafe and Devon Witherspoon, among others. Macdonald would have the proverbial clay in which to mold a very good defense. Macdonald has also shown he has the scheme to compete with the 49ers as earlier this season Baltimore destroyed San Francisco 33-19 in a game that was not as close as the score might imply.

The 49ers did end up with more than 400 total yards but much of that came late when the game was out of hand. Moreover, Baltimore forced the 49ers into 5 interceptions. Macdonald was able to disguise his coverages so well that Shanahan and his quarterbacks had no answer for it.

The Seahawks have not yet interviewed Macdonald for their head coaching vacancy, but Seattle also has not had a chance to. The Ravens are still playing football and Seattle cannot interview Macdonald as long as that is happening. Once Baltimore's season is done, however, the Seahawks should be on the phone with Macdonald to schedule an interview.

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