Everything Mike Macdonald said after Seahawks losing streak extends to three games

The Seattle Seahawks suffered an embarrassing loss at home to their division rival, the San Francisco 49ers, on Thursday Night Football. The NFC West division hasn't looked very strong this season and it looked like the Seahawks could maintain a close lead. However, San Francisco handled Seattle its third-straight loss on the season and replaced them in first place in the division.

It's only six games into a year one under new head coach Mike Macdonald but the concerns are valid. MacDonald took to answering pressing questions about the offensive and defensive mistakes in the post-game press conference following the 24-36 loss.

Everything Mike Macdonald said after Seahawks lose to 49ers

MacDonald says team needs to 'find our identity'

In Week 5 against the Giants, running backs Kenneth Walker II and Zach Charbonnet combined for only 30 yards on seven rushing attempts. The Seahawks knew they couldn't make the same mistake against the 49ers and committed to feeding their backfield more. There wasn't much improvement, as Walker, Charbonnet, and quarterback Geno Smith combined for 20 rushes and 52 yards. In the post-game press conference, Macdonald emphasized the importance of finding their identity as a team, especially in the run game.

“If you’re behind multiple scores deep into the second half, you’re not going to be able to run the ball. It’s just the way it goes so we’re going to keep working on finding our identity”, Macdonald said in his press conference.

'Turnovers' are hurting the Seahawks the most

Mike Macdonald made it clear that turnovers are hurting the team the most right now, with 10 total on the year. Regarding the takeaway differential, Macdonald said “turnovers are single-handedly the biggest thing right now that’s hurting our football team” and that "we're not emphasizing (the turnaround) enough" and that it is his responsibility to do so.

"That's the starting point," said Macdonald, via the team's website. "The guys know that. I mean, add that to the list of things we have to attack. But we can't be giving the ball to the other team. We have to be playing more precise."

Geno Smith is responsible for six of those turnovers, with two coming against the 49ers.

On the other end, the Seahawks defense had three takeaways in the season opener against the Denver Broncos, but have only one in the last five games. They need to find away to turnaround their turnover differential.

Defensive breakdowns putting offense in a deep hole

The Seahawks kept digging themselves into a deeper hole against the 49ers, and according to Macdonald, the blame falls on the defense. They struggled to make the necessary stops, forcing the offense to rely on "chucking" the ball in the second half, increasing the chance of interceptions...

“You’re so behind you got to chuck it in the second half, again that’s defensively and as a team we have to be in these games within a score in the second half so we’re not going to have to drop back as much," said Macdonald.

Macdonald noted that the defense has either been stopping teams at the line of scrimmage or giving up big plays as the scheme breaks down at all three levels. To turn things around, he emphasized the importance of maintaining gap discipline and improving tackling.

Things need to turn around quickly for Seattle and that starts with Macdonald. The excuses need to stop and the team needs to play better all around. They have completely lost their identity and may be quickly losing their fans.