Oof, that one hurt. The Seattle Seahawks came into Week 1 riding some preseason momentum, while the San Francisco 49ers came in wounded and into hostile territory. What felt like it should have been a “changing of the guard” game, instead turned into San Francisco reminding Seattle who’s the big brother.
A brutal 17-13 loss in the final moments at home (again) now leaves the Seahawks in a difficult early hole, and that week one hope feels like a distant memory.
Let’s break it down.
1st Down- It’s only
one game, but it feels more than that
You may disagree and believe that in a 17-game season, losing week one isn’t the end of the world, but I don’t know how you don’t feel immense disappointment after that loss.
This wasn’t just a season-opening loss, this was another home loss to your bitter rival. This was a loss to your bitter rival who was depleted across multiple positions and lost their two best receivers during the game.
A home loss to a division rival is the quickest way to falling behind and staying behind in a divisional race, but that is beside the point. This was the weakest and most vulnerable of a chance for the Seahawks to get the 49ers and you still let them off the hook.
2nd Down- Rough first game by Klint Kubiak and the offense
Expectations were drastically raised for the Seahawks after an impressive preseason performance that saw a ground and pound attack that looked like the Seahawks were all in on playing bully ball. Everything was on the table for Klint Kubiak to continue this momentum into the season, and against his mentor.
In the first two drives, it appeared that was the case. An awkward decision/timing to bring in Jalen Milroe for his first snap messed up the rhythm and likely cost the Seahawks points. On the second drive, we saw a physical offense with timely passing that saw Zach Charbonnet plunge into the end zone and show that Seattle early on had an advantage at the line of scrimmage.
For the next 45 minutes, other than the two-minute drills, Kubiak and the Seahawks offense looked lost and timid. There are clear issues with this scheme’s fit with Kenneth Walker compared to Charbonnet. Other than Jaxon Smith-Njigba trying to carry the passing game, we saw absolutely nothing from the rest of the roster.
A good chunk of that can go on the players, but the play calling by Klint was uneven at best. Where did the inside runs go in the second half? Where were the bootlegs and easy roll outs to the tight end, staples of his father’s offensive philosophy. The screen game was Darell Bevell level of bad.
The feeling of them abandoning their run game and philosophy was never more felt than when Mike Macdonald elected to kick the field goal in the final minutes rather than go for it on 4th down and a yard.
Yes, the field goal gave them the lead and their defense had played pretty well for the most of the game, but Macdonald had conviction about his offense for the past nine months. He fired Ryan Grubb because they couldn’t run for a yard in key moments that cost them a division title last year. They drafted Grey Zabel in the first round to help get them that yard. They hired Kubiak to build a scheme around that idea. They added a fullback, and a strong mobile quarterback in Milroe to add the tush push play to the repertoire.
They did all of this, preached it, and then when the moment came to take the 49ers soul and essentially bleed the clock out with one yard, Klint and Mike lacked conviction and looked small in that moment.
3rd Down- Fork in the road moment for Woolen
The Riq Woolen experience was on full display yesterday, as his overall strong play was overshadowed by two critical mistakes on the final drive of the game on defense.
Woolen got lost on a pretty weak double move by Ricky Pearsall for 45 yards that got the 49ers immediately in field goal range. This play looked quite similar to some of Riq’s brutal mental mistakes last year, where he’d simply lose where he and the receiver were on the field. This play was even more inexcusable when it was probably going to take a big play or a mistake to even give San Francisco a chance for an explosive play.
The touchdown play, whether this is true or not, simply looked like a lack of effort, as Woolen was outplayed on a flailing jump ball in the corner of the end zone by third-string tight end Jake freaking Tonges. That play should have resulted in an interception, and there’s absolutely no reason that pass should have been completed.
It was two inexcusable mistakes by Woolen that ruined what was overall a great defensive performance. It also continues a concerning trend with his lack of focus in big moments, and may be why we haven’t seen an extension with the talented defensive back.
You have to wonder if this will be a defining moment for Riq. Does this finally get him to wake up and not get lost in these biggest moments, and become the complete player he easily could be, or will Mike Macdonald grow tired of these inexcusable mistakes and are we nearing the end of the Riq Woolen experience?
4th Down- Will they learn from this painful lesson?
Just like Woolen, this was a painful loss for all, but can they turn it into a painful lesson learned?
Kubiak got beat by Robert Saleh yesterday, but that doesn’t mean the season is washed. Mike Macdonald wasn’t able to deliver his vision for this football like he said he was. Will he learn from that mistake going forward?
The new-look offense looked like a new offense with a ton of new pieces. Can they learn from the growing pains and turn into a top 12 offense for the final 16 games?
Can this franchise somehow figure out a way to get their home field advantage back?
The season isn’t over, but a loss at home to a division rival stings like no other, and now they will be going into the lion’s den next Sunday in Pittsburgh. A road home opener against DK Metcalf and Aaron Rodgers looks like a tall task, but the Seahawks need to learn some lessons immediately if they don’t want to fall to 0-2 on the season.
