Mike Macdonald Says Seahawks 'Want to Run it Forward' in 2026 After Winning NFL Super Bowl 60

The phrase "running it back" has often entered the vocabulary of teams looking to repeat as champions, and/or perhaps bringing the same core back for the following season.

The defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks and head coach Mike Macdonald, however, have a new phrase: "Run it forward."

Macdonald explained the thought process behind the phrase at a press conference, per ESPN's Brady Henderson.

"We're using the term, we want to run it forward—'it' meaning our process and who we are," Macdonald said. "I think this is going to be...something that we're going to talk about consistently. I don't think it's a one-and-done type of conversation. Really, it's just how we talk about how we operate all the time. It's something that we're having conversations with our team and our units every day about who we want to be and how we want to do things, and this situation is no different."

That all makes sense. Macdonald's Seahawks won the Super Bowl in his second year running the team. Seattle went 17-3 including the playoffs, finishing third in scoring while allowing the fewest points per game.

The Seahawks' three losses were by a combined nine points, and they ended the year on a 10-game winning streak.

Needless to say, Seattle did a lot right. The process worked. So Macdonald's idea to "run it forward" tracks.

The idea, of course, is to create a sustainable winning program with a chance at winning a Super Bowl every year. That's a difficult task in the salary cap era, but teams like the New England Patriots in the 2000s and 2010s and the Kansas City Chiefs in more recent years proved it can be done.

"I think when you look at some of these high-performing teams that have been able to do it over a long period of time, I think the common thread that you find is a standard that you feel responsible to uphold on a daily basis, and part of that standard here is chasing edges, is a spirit of evolution and a spirit of moving forward all the time," Macdonald said, per Henderson. "So that's where our minds are. But giving us the freedom to move forward and have the space to kind of make each new phase of the year our own and unique to us. There's a balance there [of thinking about picking up where they left off versus starting from scratch].

"But again, I've just been really pleased with every day's work and haven't sensed an ounce of complacency, and that's been really positive."

Seattle did lose some key contributors to the Super Bowl run via free agency, including Super Bowl MVP and running back Kenneth Walker III and starting safety Coby Bryant. However, the squad does return a host of other talents, including all six of their Pro Bowl players but linebacker Ernest Jones, a second team All-Pro.

The Seahawks open their title defense on Wednesday, Sept. 9 in a Super Bowl rematch with the New England Patriots.