The Seahawks host the 49ers on Thursday night in an NFC West matchup between two teams that are looking to bounce back from tough losses on a short week. The Seahawks (3-2) are trying to get back on track after losing two in a row, while the defending NFC champion 49ers (2-3) are trying to find their footing after losing three of their last four, all by one-score margins.

"We've got to move forward and look to make the improvements we need to make to go win," Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald said. "So it's pretty much that simple, and we've got a great opportunity on Thursday night to make it right with a great team coming in here, division rival, so it should be a great game."

Here are five things to watch in Thursday night's game between the Seahawks and 49ers:

1. Can the Seahawks respond well to some adversity and make an early statement in the NFC West?

Three weeks into the Mike Macdonald era, the Seahawks were an imperfect team, but an unbeaten one. Over the past two weeks, however, injuries and inconsistencies in all three phases added up to a pair of losses, meaning the Seahawks now find themselves in the position of a team looking to overcome a little adversity and bounce back with a big NFC West win.

Macdonald's approach to this week, like any other week, is to focus on getting to the truth of the matter when it comes to what hasn't worked while emphasizing what has gone well.

"We're going to be positive, but we're also going to tell each other the truth," he said. "The film doesn't lie on what it is. We're 3-2. We've done good enough stuff to win three games out of five. You are what your record says. We've also lost two games and just so happened to be the last two. We didn't do enough to win those two games as well. When you break down each game, it's very clear on why we won or lost those games. So, let's attack those things that we're not doing well. Let's try to enhance the things that we are when we were able to take advantage of those opportunities and let's go to work.

"It's still really early. You'll learn about our football team, the only thing that we want to know how to do is just go back to work, do it better, and just rock and roll. To have each other's backs, keep each other accountable, tell each other the truth, and move forward. That's the only thing you can't do in these situations. It's the only thing I know how to do, so that's what we're going to do."

With the 49ers off to a 2-3 start in their quest to defend their division title, Thursday's game is not just a chance for the Seahawks to get back in the win column, but also to extend their lead in the division. It's also an opportunity for the Seahawks to end a five-game losing streak, postseason included, to the 49ers, a stretch that followed Seattle winning 17 of the previous 20 meetings.

None of that history matters to the current teams, however, both of which are eager to get back on track after recent losses.

"It's just about this game," quarterback Geno Smith said. "Those five games don't help them, don't help us. It's about this game and focusing on this Thursday night. That's all that really matters. Obviously, yeah, you can say that, but then you can go past that and say we beat them five straight times. So, I think it doesn't really matter. It just matters about this game and what we do now."

2. Will the Seahawks indeed run the ball more?

One of the biggest topics this week for the Seahawks has been their running game, and in particular the lack of rushing attempts in the past two games, culminating in Kenneth Walker III getting just five carries against the Giants on Sunday.

Offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb took full responsibility for the imbalance in Seattle’s offense, saying "I'll own that. Got to get the ball to Ken more. And I think we had plenty of run game in the plan, didn't have anything to do with not having enough calls for that, just didn't get called. And for us, we leaned on the wrong thing. And I think if we get Ken 10 more touches, 15 more touches, things are going to look different."

Of course, it's never as simple as just deciding to run the ball more no matter what. Opponents' defensive looks can affect play-calling, as can situations in games, such as playing from behind as the Seahawks have been doing in the past two weeks. But regardless of how the game plays out, Seattle knows the lopsided nature of their offense in Sunday's loss to the Giants isn't the best path forward.

"That's 100 percent on me, and my job is to make sure I get all our guys in the best position possible to win the game," Grubb said. "And I didn't do that."

Added Macdonald, "We all know we need to run the ball more. Everybody knows that, our opponents know that. Our players in our locker room know that, (Ryan) Grubb knows that, our coaches do, and I do. We have to create more situations where we can run it as well. And that's a team stat as well. So that's all three phases where we have to create those."

Running the ball against a talented 49ers defensive front won't be easy, but there could be some opportunities there, with the 49ers currently allowing 4.7 yards per carry to opposing rushers, which ranks 21^st in the league.

3. How does Seattle's defense hold up against Kyle Shanahan's vaunted scheme?

Ever since Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVay became head coaches in 2017, various versions of the Shanahan scheme, which has roots in Bill Walsh's famed West Coast offense and Mike Shanahan's evolution of that scheme, have become more and more prolific in the NFL. And for good reason—variants of that scheme used by the likes of Shanahan, McVay, Green Bay head coach Matt LeFleur, Miami head coach Mike McDaniel, Minnesota head coach Kevin O'Connell, Houston offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik, and others have proven to be very challenging to stop.

The 49ers haven't quite been hitting on all cylinders so far this season, especially with star running back Christian McCaffrey sidelined by injury, but they're still a formidable group, ranking second in the NFL in total offense and 10^th in scoring.

And while Macdonald is new to the NFC West, he isn't new to facing Shanahan, having done so back when Shanahan was the offensive coordinator, then again in 2019 and 2023, with the Ravens prevailing in both of those games.

"Where do I start?" Macdonald said when asked about the challenges the 49ers offense presents. "They've been working on this scheme, and it's been evolving for a long time, 30 years. In Baltimore, we've gone against Kyle when he was in Cleveland and then since he's been in San Francisco. So, We're both familiar with each other's schemes. It's almost like it's a division opponent to a certain degree up to this point now that it is. They do a great job. Runs and passes out of the same looks, the quarterback is able to play really fast in that system. The run game is complementary and they do a great job. They know what they're doing, they target stuff right. This game is a 60-minute battle of who's going to outplay who for the length of the game. It's always been that way for whoever they play, and we got a great challenge ahead of us."

4. Can the Seahawks win in the red zone?

A big reason that the 49ers are 2-3 despite having the No. 2 offense in the NFL as well as a top 10 defense has been that the offense has not been able to convert yards and drives into the red zone into touchdowns on a consistent basis.

San Francisco, which last week led the NFL by scoring touchdowns on 68 percent of its trips to the end zone, is converting at just a 40.9 percent rate this season, which ranks 29^th. The loss of McCaffrey for the start of the season has hurt the 49ers in the red zone, perhaps more than in any other element of their offense, and if the Seahawks are going to come out on top in this game, limiting San Francisco's red zone success for another week would make a huge difference.

The Seahawks defense has been good in the red zone for most of this season other than in the loss at Detroit, ranking 11^th in the league while allowing touchdowns on 47.4 percent of opponents' red zone trips. The Seahawks will look to keep that up on defense while also finding success on the other side of the ball. On offense, the Seahawks are 10^th in the league when it comes to converting in the red zone, finding the end zone on 63.6 percent of their trips inside the 20, while the 49ers defense ranks 16^th at 53.3 percent, down a bit from last season when they ranked 11^th.

5. Can the Seahawks limit the production of another elite edge rusher?

The Seahawks have had some struggles when it comes to pass protection this season, but there have also been some positive moments, including a strong showing in Detroit that Macdonald called the offensive line's best performance of the season. In that game, Geno Smith was sacked three times, but that was on 56 pass attempts, and none of those sacks came from Pro-Bowl defensive end Aidan Hutchinson, who had 6.5 sacks in his first three games prior to that Week 4 matchup.

Against the 49ers, the Seahawks will face another elite pass rusher in Nick Bosa, a four-time Pro-Bowler who also earned Defensive Player of the Year honors in 2022, and based on how Bosa has lined up this season, right tackle Stone Forsythe, who also spent a lot of time blocking Hutchinson, will be one of the players most responsible for Bosa.

Bosa, who leads the 49ers with 20 quarterback pressures, has the quickest get-off time (.67 seconds) of any defender with at least 60 pass rushes, according to NFL Next Gen Stats.

One way to combat that is to get rid of the ball quickly, something Smith has done well all season. Smith's average time to throw last week was a league-low 2.38 seconds, and that was also his quickest average time to throw since joining the Seahawks. This season, 56.8 of Smith's passes have been thrown in less than 2.5 seconds.

Of course, even if the Seahawks can keep Bosa's numbers down, that doesn't mean things will be easy against a defense that has been one of the league's best for the past several years.

"They're great at causing turnovers," Smith said. "You talk about personnel, Nick Bosa, one of the better D-ends in the league. Then you got Fred Warner, Mike linebacker, one of the better middle linebackers in the game. They got playmakers all around the defense. They play together, they fly around, they got swagger. They're proven, they believe in themselves. So, they come right in, they're not going to try and trick you as far as scheme goes. They're going to line up and force you to beat them for 60 minutes. So, we respect them. They've been a great team, especially in recent years. It's time for us to go out there and get it done."