“Exactly the way we put it together, exactly what we expected, 6-3,” Macdonald joked. “It’s not easy to travel across the country in a short week and play in such an atmosphere. That’s why our boys deserve a lot of credit for their attitude. We stuck together the whole time, we had to fight some adversity throughout the game. Our defense just deserved it. “A lot of credit, man. Even when (the Bears) made incredible plays in critical moments – you have to give their quarterback a lot of credit, he just kept fighting under pressure, and then you at the end of the day, I had a chance to win it, and those guys have one did a great job.

For the Seahawks, Thursday’s win, although lacking in style points, was an important comeback effort for a team that had its back against the wall after two straight losses to the Packers and Vikings. After Sunday’s loss to Minnesota, the Seahawks had to immediately turn their attention to this game, recovering physically while doing enough preparation work before leaving for Chicago on Wednesday afternoon after allowing players, coaches and staff to start their day later than usually to start being home on Christmas morning. Despite these challenges, the Seahawks were able to perform at a high level, especially on defense, improving to 9-7 on the season, including 6-1 on the road.

“I went into a short week on Thursday and got your bodies ready to play the right way, the right way,” Macdonald said. “You have to be able to play the right way to win in this league. I think this is an opportunity to praise our support team. (Vice President of Player Performance) Sam Ramsden, (Head Strength and Conditioning Coach) Ivan Lewis and his crew managed to get these guys in order on Monday. That was very important for us.

According to Jarran Reed, one of Seattle’s many standout defensive players on Sunday, who earned him a game ball from Macdonald in the postgame celebration, meetings and lots and lots of meetings were key to preparing for this short week.

“Man, that was a lot,” Reed said, laughing. “Lots of meetings, I was tired of the meetings. I had my children here, it was Christmas, there were meetings, there were more meetings, then a walkthrough, then meetings again, then another walkthrough, then meetings, meetings, meetings.” . I told them yesterday, “I’m tired of seeing you all.” Then this morning we had another meeting.

This 6-3 Seahawks win was hardly the first low-scoring game on Thursday night, and perhaps the lack of preparation had something to do with it, as Smith pointed out.