The San Francisco 49ers’ defense didn’t put up much of a fight on the first drive. The Seattle Seahawks picked up nine yards on the second play from scrimmage, then 20 yards on the third play. After getting Seattle into a 3rd & 4 situation, Sam Darnold had enough time to work to his fourth read to complete a 9-yard pass to former 49ers tight end, Eric Saubert.
Before you knew it, Seattle was in the red zone. It didn’t take long for the Seahawks to have a goal-to-go situation. Deommodore Lenoir begged
for the Jaxon Smith-Njigba matchup. On the first target, Lenoir committed defensive pass interference.
That gave Seattle a 1st-and-goal from the one-yard line. Then, Darnold went full Darnold. He held the ball, and Tatum Bethune sacked Darnold for a loss of 11 yards. That would lead to a 3rd-and-goal, which never felt possible a couple of plays earlier. After a stop, Mike Macdonald elected to go for it on 4th & goal from the four. Upton Stout made the stop in coverage, and the defense got off the field without allowing any points.
The offense went three-and-out. Seattle’s first drive lasted seven minutes and 37 seconds. The 49ers’ drive lasted one minute and 15 seconds.
Garret Wallow grabbed a facemask on the punt, which meant Seattle would start their second drive from the Niners 35-yard line. On 3rd & 2, Zach Charbonnet cut it back against the grain and outran everybody for a 27-yard touchdown run to take an early 7-0 lead. Tatum Bethune overran the play, and that left nobody on the backside of the formation.
The 49ers did a good job of picking up a blitz on second down on their next drive, but nobody was open, and Brock Purdy was sacked. Jauan Jennings was short on third down. Purdy was lucky to avoid a sack once more, as Colton McKivitz was beaten. On 4th & 1, Kyle Shanahan elected to punt.
Punting assumed the defense would hold up. They had given Kyle Shanahan zero indication that they could get a stop. The Seahawks gained 20 and 12 yards on the first three plays.
For the first time in 27 quarters, the 49ers had failed to score. The offense had a pair of quick three-and-outs, and neither Christian McCaffrey nor George Kittle caught a pass. Seattle outgained the 49ers 125 to 16 in the first quarter.
On 2nd & 15, Smith-Njigba picked up the first down after Bethune missed an open field tackle. The 49ers’ defense ended up holding the Seahawks to a field goal attempt, thanks to a penalty and Upton Stout making a fantastic play on third down.
The voodoo for opposing kickers continued. Seattle missed a kick from 47 yards, which was the 10th on the season. The score remained 7-0.
McCaffrey picked up a first down on a reception. Purdy scrambled for ten yards on 3rd and long to make it 4th & 1. A long-developing play with downfield routes failed, and Purdy was left throwing to Kyle Juszczyk.
Smith-Njigba picked up 18 yards on first down. Dee Winters had a free run at Darnold on 3rd down, but missed. Darnold scrambled for a first down. To make matters worse, Winters had his calf stepped on. That meant the linebackers were Bethune, Kendricks, and Wallow. On 3rd & 6, Green and Ji’Ayir Brown broke up a pass intended for JSN, forcing a field goal. It was 10-0.
The 49ers tried to get Kittle involved to begin their fourth drive, but Nick Emmanwori sniffed out a screen that lost six yards on the play. Purdy, as he does, created something out of nothing on 3rd & 11 to find Jennings for a gain of 13 yards. Kittle picked up a first down on a play-action pass, and the offense was in Seattle territory by the 2-minute warning.
Shanahan elected to kick a field goal on 4th & 3 from the 30, which felt like the correct decision. Seattle didn’t have any timeouts remaining with just over a minute to play, and the 49ers would receive the opening kickoff to begin the second half. The defense ended up getting a stop, and it was 10-3 at the half.
The 49ers were getting outgained by 127 yards. They had three first downs compared to the Seahawks’ 12. They were only averaging 3.4 yards per play. And were somehow only down a touchdown.
It may have looked like Purdy was tentative in the first half, but there were no open receivers. Eventually, even without Williams and Pearsall, you thought the offense would come alive.
The defense did its part after a rough first quarter. Seattle ran for 16 yards on the first six carries of the half. They began the game with 99 rushing yards on 13 carries.
Demarcus Robinson made a nice catch along the sideline on a comeback route for 13 yards to give the offense a first down. The offense picked up a second first down on the drive, which was almost their total for the first half. But a sack on second down all but ended what looked to be a promising drive. For the third time, the 49ers would have to punt. They punted twice in the previous three weeks combined.
The defense continued to keep this game close. Malik Mustapha and Deommodore Lenoir came up with a pair of impressive tackles for losses to prevent Seattle from tacking on any points. After six drives, the defense held the Seahawks to one touchdown.
That put the pressure back on Purdy, who, up to this point, had been pressured on 43 percent of his dropbacks and took a season-high three sacks. On 3rd & 2, Purdy found Robinson for a gain of one yard. It was a three-and-out at an inopportune time.
It was bizarre watching an offense fail to generate any explosive plays. They had zero. To make matters worse, McCaffrey wasn’t on the field on that third down.
Darnold gave the defense an opportunity for their first turnover. He was stepped on, fumbled, and Yetur Gross-Matos couldn’t recover it. That wasn’t the biggest gut punch on the drive. On 3rd & 17, multiple missed tackles allowed Kenneth Walker to pick up 19 yards. Smith-Njigba picked up 19 after that. Charbonnet another 12. On 3rd & 9, Renardo Green committed a defensive pass interference. Seattle was still forced to settle for a field goal. Their 31-yard attempt was good, making it 13-3.
ESPN’s Field Yates said, “Can the offense wake up?” That was the real story of the game. We were beginning the fourth quarter, and the 49ers had 105 yards of offense without a red zone trip. Three points through three quarters.
The offense got the memo. Purdy found Kittle for 20 yards, then rushed for 11. After a pair of 10 and 16-yard passes, the 49ers had their first goal-to-go situation of the night. In what was an improbable outing by the offense, the next play summed up how the night went.
Purdy’s pass to McCaffrey was dropped and ricocheted into a Seattle defender’s hand for an interception. It was quite the turn of events. Instead of 13-10 with an opportunity to get the ball back, Seattle kept a two-possession lead and could chew up more clock.
Tatum Bethune went down with an injury, again, on the ensuing drive. Bethune had a groin injury. Without Bethune and Winters, that meant the 49ers defense had Kendricks and Wallow at linebacker —two linebackers who weren’t on the roster until around Thanksgiving.
Seattle converted one first down after another. After putting up a good fight, the defense looked like they were all out of bullets. Overall, it looked like a team playing their third game in two weeks.
The Seahawks made things interesting when they missed a field goal, but the 49ers were out of timeouts and needed a miracle. Purdy had only thrown for 127 yards, and 46 of those came on the previous drive. We knew the offense would miss Ricky Pearsall, but not to this level. It was the first time all season the offense looked inept.
Credit Mike Macdonald and the Seahawks for having the 49ers in a headlock all night. Tonight showed Seattle, at least without Trent Williams and Pearsall, was the better team.
We will see the 49ers next week in the Wild Card round. The road to Super Bowl LX will go through Seattle.
