Mike Macdonald isn’t pretending the NFC West is easy, and he isn’t spending much time worrying about whether the San Francisco 49ers or Los Angeles Rams look stronger on paper right now.
What he is willing to do is hand out a clear compliment to the coach across the division line.
During a recent conversation with Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports Bay Area, the Seahawks head coach called Kyle Shanahan “the best in the business.”
“Kyle, he's the best in the business,” Macdonald said, per David Bonilla of 49ers Webzone. “I mean, he doesn't have the track record that he has by accident, so we've got a ton of respect for him.”
Macdonald has seen enough of Shanahan’s operation to know why that respect exists. Seattle and San Francisco met twice in the 2025 regular season and then again in the divisional round of the playoffs, giving Macdonald a close-up look at a team that has become one of the league’s most consistent problems for opponents.
Shanahan’s reputation goes beyond wins and losses. He’s long been viewed as one of the NFL’s sharpest offensive minds, and his work with Brock Purdy has become one of the league’s most notable development stories. Purdy went from the final pick in the 2022 NFL Draft to an MVP Award finalist and eventually landed a five-year, $265M contract extension with $181M in guarantees and a no-trade clause.
Even with all of that, Shanahan still doesn’t have a Super Bowl title on his résumé. In February 2024, the 49ers were one fourth-down stop away from winning it all.
That chance slipped away. Then in January, San Francisco took a 41-6 loss in Seattle in the divisional round.
Macdonald’s praise also came with a detailed breakdown of what makes Shanahan’s team so difficult to handle.
“There's a great detail in which they coach, and there's a precision to their offense, and there's a physicality to what they do, and it's complementary,” Macdonald said. “Everything's married off each other.
All the route stems are married off each other. They vary their pass protections.
The run game is diverse but complementary. Again, they're constantly evolving, so you have to keep pace with that, and it's not easy to do, and that's why they've been so successful.”
The betting markets still see Seattle as the stronger Super Bowl LXI contender for now. DraftKings Sportsbook listed the Seahawks fourth among the favorites at +1100 odds on Thursday afternoon, while the 49ers sat at +1900.
The next meeting between the Seahawks and 49ers comes in Week 5 on Oct. 11 at Lumen Field.
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