Even as the Seahawks struggled to play up to their own standard in recent weeks, losing three of four games, they knew they had the capability to be a great team.

And on Sunday, hosting the unbeaten Kansas City Chiefs in prime time, the Seahawks showed both a national audience, as well as themselves, what it can look like when they play their brand of football.

"That's 12 as One football right there," Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald told his team in the locker room after a dominant 20-3 victory. "That's Seahawk football! That's Seahawk football! That's Seahawk football, guys."

The Seahawks have played great defense all season, but took it to another level against a talented and well-coached Chiefs offense, one led by one of the best quarterbacks of his era, Patrick Mahomes, a future Hall of Famer in tight end Travis Kelce, and the league's leading rusher in Kenneth Walker III. On Sunday the Chiefs were held to only 11 first downs, a single field goal, 213 yards, and did not reach the red zone on any of their eight possessions. By all of those measures -- yards, first downs, points and trips to the red zone -- it was either the worst or tied for worst performance for the Chiefs offense with Mahomes as the starting quarterback.

Seattle's offense, meanwhile, put up 410 yards, averaged 5.9 yards per play, went 11 for 16 on third down, got another dominant performance out of Jaxon Smith-Njigba, and rushed for 153 yards. There were still things to clean up, most notably a lack of production in the red zone, but overall, it was a big step forward for that unit.

To put together that type of performance after losing three of four, and after suffering consecutive defeats for the first time since 2024, and to do so against a very strong opponent, was significant for the Seahawks.

"Really everybody has just been steadfast in having each other's backs, trusting the people in the operation, knowing that we're going to take a step as a team," Macdonald said. "You lose three of four, there's probably as much noise as they've heard in a while, but it didn't affect them. Didn't really affect our operation. As the coach, understanding their process, the spirit of the team throughout the week, you're just really proud of that.

"I think this game shows us, reminds the guys what we're capable of. I think our guys understand that there's more levels to where we can go. So I hope they feel the sense of urgency that we get there, because it is stuff we can control. I'm talking about procedural stuff, red-zone stuff, negative plays, how we rush, our red zone defense. All those things we've been attacking. But of course, the guys have been working so hard. You want that for them. We want them to feel what it feels like to play our brand of ball again. You want our fans to feel it, too. I think that they can feel we're still a championship-caliber team. That's what we're facing."

Players felt it too as they demonstrated just how well they can play when they avoid some of the costly mistakes that have hurt them this season.

"It's just us being us," cornerback Devon Witherspoon said. "I just felt like we're back to being who we're supposed to be."

Said Smith-Njigba, who had nine catches for 150 yards and a touchdown: "Our backs were against the wall, and just how we came out here as a brotherhood and fought and swing. The resiliency of our team is something special and we're going to keep going."

Smith-Njigba acknowledged there was a sense of urgency for the team after losing three of four, including two in a row, coming into this game against the Chiefs, who were 5-0 before Sunday.

"Losing two in a row, I don't know the last time we've been a part of that," the Seahawks' star receiver said. "We know how great of a team Kansas City is. Our weekly coming in, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, our process, we just stuck to that and super proud of our guys this week.

"It's huge, especially playing a team like Kansas City, and all the killers they have on that side. We knew how big this game was. We wanted this one badly. We saw it as a playoff game and we're going to attack each week like that."

As linebacker Ernest Jones IV explained, the Seahawks weren't down on themselves or doubting what they were capable of during a rough patch, but they were eager to get a win a put it behind them, and they did that in emphatic fashion on Sunday.

"Nobody was down, it was just, 'Let's get to Sunday, let's go get a win,' said Jones, who led the team with nine tackles. "We needed a win, we wanted to win. We hadn't played our style of ball these last two weeks, so we were just itching to get back out there and get an opportunity."

For receiver Cooper Kupp, the past week was a good time to remember one of the many aphorisms of legendary Pacific Lutheran University football coach Frosty Westering, who coached Kupp's father, Craig.

"It feels good because it's part of the journey, this is part of the vision, this is what we work for," Kupp said. "We come into work every day to make this come to life. This is who we are. We've talked about it over and over this week -- this is an 'about us' game. This is about going out there and playing our football."

Mentioning Westering, Kupp added: "He used to talk about, 'Another team comes in to beat us, but our job is to be us.' When we step on the field, just be who we are. That's been Mike's message from Day 1. It's about us and who we are. We put in all this work we do all this stuff all throughout the week, and when you go out there, it doesn't matter who's across from you, it's about executing your job. It's, how do you do you job over and over and over again, and when you handle that side of things, the results are going to end up in a good place most of the time. That's been our focus, and it was great to see all of that come to life today."