Seahawks hope new-look defense shakes things up for playoff run

RENTON, Wash. — The defining image of the 49ers’ 36-24 win over the Seahawks at Lumen Field on Oct. 10 may be a 76-yard run by 49ers rookie running back Isaac Guerendo that sealed the game in the fourth quarter.

The Seahawks had cut the lead to 29-24 and still had three time outs left — and a chance to get the ball back and win the game — when the 49ers took over on their own 19 with 1:39 left.

On first down, Guerendo took a simple handoff over the right side and sprinted through a wide hole and down the sideline to the 49ers’ 5-yard-line to essentially end the game.

When the Seahawks and 49ers play again Sunday in Santa Clara, three of the defensive players who tried to stop Guerendo on that play won’t be on the field — linebackers Tyrel Dodson and Jerome Baker, no longer with the team, and safety Rayshawn Jenkins, on injured reserve.

In their place will be middle linebacker Ernest Jones IV, weakside linebacker Tyrice Knight and strong safety Coby Bryant.

That game was one of four straight in which the Seahawks allowed 155 yards or more rushing, games that appear to have been the main impetus behind deciding to remake the inside linebacking corps, trading Baker and a fourth-round pick to Tennessee for Jones, and on Monday waiving Dodson.

Jenkins, who came up from safety to try to make the tackle on Guerendo, only to see the 49ers running back race by him, hasn’t played since that game because of his hand injury. Bryant started the three games since, and has played well enough that he could keep the job permanently.

“It’s a good reminder for young guys that this is a business,’’ safety Julian Love said Wednesday of the team’s defensive shake-up. “However they want to decide things upstairs is how it will go.’’

The trade of Baker and release of Dodson were admissions that the inside linebacking corps — players signed to replace Bobby Wagner and Jordyn Brooks — wasn’t working as hoped.

The moves also seemed to signal that what the team felt was needed in the wake of five losses in six games was a little shaking up of personnel, but not a wholesale changing of the team’s defensive schemes.

“The X’s and O’s are important,’’ rookie coach Mike Macdonald said. “But how we make it come to life is the secret sauce. I think when you kind of see it on all levels of the assembly line from how we game plan it, how we package it, how we coach it, how we drill it, how we practice it, how it shows up on game day. When that system’s right, we play really good football. When that system’s kind of jacked up in any part of the process, I feel like that’s where we’re falling short.“

Love and other players Wednesday echoed that the Seahawks are still confident they can make a playoff run despite what are viewed as long odds.

ESPN Analytics gives the Seahawks just a 6.4% chance to make the playoffs, because in part to having to face the eighth most-difficult schedule remaining in terms of opponent win-loss percentage — 54.7%, facing only three teams that have losing records, all on the road. They have an 0-2 NFC West record and is 1-4 in NFC conference games, which each put the Seahawks in bad shape in terms of tiebreakers.

The good news, at least, is that no team is running away with the NFC West — and because of the poor conference record, winning the division may be the Seahawks’ best shot of making the playoffs. Arizona leads at 6-4 with the 49ers at 5-4 and Seattle and the Rams at 4-5 (with L.A. technically in third due to the win over the Seahawks.

“The division is pretty tight,’’ Love said. “It’s not like it’s just, ‘Man, it’s all over. It’s done for.’ It’s very doable. You see every year a story of a team or two or three who turn it around the second half. So we want to be that team …. That’s kind of our approach. But really, it’s all on the table still thankfully.’’

Time is of the essence.

Consider that The Upshot’s Playoff simulator drops the Seahawks’ odds of making the pos-season to 2% with a loss Sunday, which would drop the Seahawks to 4-6 and mean at finishing 3-3 at best in the division.

To some, that makes it curious that the Seahawks decided to dump a veteran in Dodson at midseason to turn over the weakside linebacking job to Knight, a fourth-round pick who started two games earlier this season and is hardly a proven commodity. Knight has played just seven snaps since starting a 42-29 loss to the Lions.

Macdonald said he expects Knight to show improvement based in part on the experience he gained earlier this year.

“Experience, especially early in your career, that learning curve really accelerates,’’ Macdonald said. “If he hadn’t played, we probably wouldn’t be having this conversation to this point.”

The Seahawks also could play Drake Thomas at that spot, or use more six-defensive back sets, potentially using cornerback Devon Witherspoon in more spots getting him closer to the line of scrimmage.

Dodson also was the wearer of the “green dot helmet.’’ meaning he got the defensive play calls from Macdonald to relay to the rest of the defense.

That’s a spot where making a change in-season can be tricky. Jones handled that role in 2023 with the Rams, and Macdonald and teammates say he’s proven a quick study of the defense.

“It’s going to be our first time experiencing that,’’ Bryant said. “We have the utmost faith in E.J. We know he is going to go out there and play his game and we’re going to go out there and execute.”

Love acknowledged that the recent change indicates “we’re still trying to build who we are and our identity.’’

Love insisted the vibe in the locker room is positive.

“The past two weeks (home losses to the Bills and Rams) has definitely been a lot, I know, for some people on the outside looking in,’’ Love said. “But we feel revitalized. We feel pretty energized going into this week and the rest of the year.’’

Love said those words just minutes before he headed out to the Seahawks’ first full-length practice since the Rams game.

“I think we’re on a good path,’’ he said. “I think (we’ll be) flying around, playing with some swag and energy (in practice), just trying to figure out who we are. We’ve just got to sprint to the end.’’

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