Seahawks start fast, roll past 49ers in NFC divisional round

Seattle – As it turns out, Seattle Seahawks didn’t even need healthy Sam Darnold To clinch a spot in the NFC Championship Game. The quarterback’s supporting cast is just as good.

Having performed well in all three stages, coach Mike MacDonald’s side have now strengthened their claim as the most complete team in this season’s playoffs. win 41-6 on division rival san francisco 49ers on Saturday night.

Seahawks’ top-rated special teams debut Rasheed Shaheed Returning the opening kickoff 95 yards for the first touchdown jason myers Two field goals were added. The NFL’s best scoring defense got three takeaways, forced three more turnovers on downs and held San Francisco to a pair of field goals. Kenneth Walker III Scored three rushing touchdowns, and Darnold looked fine despite the oblique injury he suffered in practice Thursday, which gave the top-seeded Seahawks a scare ahead of the team’s first home playoff game with fans in the stands in nine years.

Seattle gave the 12s a show with the kind of performance that will only strengthen the Seahawks’ Super Bowl hopes — even if their quarterback has to continue playing less than 100 percent healthy.

What is meant by QB performance: Darnold did not come onto the field until about 45 minutes before kickoff as part of an altered pregame routine. But once the game started, he didn’t seem limited by his oblique injury, moving well and throwing with his usual zip. On his lone touchdown pass, he rolled to his left and threw a strike to the wide receiver Jackson Smith-Njigba In the end zone. Darnold completed 12 of 17 attempts for 124 yards, but was pulled with nine minutes left and Seattle leading by 35 points. The Seahawks didn’t need Darnold to be a star in this one, and he didn’t even try to be. He put the ball in harm’s way only once and escaped.

Viewing Trends: With their commitment to the run, a proven running scheme and two talented tailbacks, it seemed like it was only a matter of time before the Seahawks found the perfect fit for that part of coordinator Clint Kubiak’s attack. After working hard for most of the regular season, Seattle’s run game is a work in progress. It was the Seahawks’ fourth consecutive game with at least 160 rushing yards. Walker (19 yards and three touchdowns on 116 carries) led the Zach Charbonnet Left in the second quarter with a knee injury and did not return. left tackle charles cross He also went down with a foot injury in the third quarter and did not return, which is another concern for Seattle heading into the conference title game.

“Optimistic with the Charbs,” MacDonald said after the game. “We’ll have to photograph it and bring stuff up, but early indications are hopefully it’s structurally fine.” He said he took the cross “out of caution” with victory in hand, adding: “But we still have to work with his foot, so I don’t have any clue as to what it’s going to look like.”

turn: If it wasn’t Shahid’s touchdown on the opening kickoff or Seattle’s forced turnover on downs on the 49ers’ opening drive, it was Ernest Jones IVThere was a forced fumble late in the first quarter. Second team All-Pro inside linebacker snatched tight end Jake Tonges After a catch. Security julian love Darnold’s touchdown pass to Smith-Njigba gave them a 17–0 lead. From there the defeat continued. Jones intercepted brock purdy In the third quarter. Seattle’s defense held San Francisco to a total of three field goals in their last two meetings.

Statistics to know: The Seahawks pressured Purdy on 19 of their 33 dropbacks (58%). According to ESPN Research, this was the second-highest rate of pressure and one of the most pressures he faced in a game in his career. Purdy completed 6 of 14 attempts for 74 yards with an interception, two sacks and a fumble when pressured. The Seahawks’ 19 pressures are the most in 20 playoff games since ESPN began tracking the statistics in 2009. Their previous high was 15, which they reached twice in the 2016 postseason. — Brady Henderson

Next game: versus Chicago Bears/Los Angeles Rams (6:30 p.m. ET, Jan. 25)

In some ways, it was fitting that the 49ers’ season ended on the same field where it began.

In Week 1, the Niners overcame injuries and their own mistakes to win against the Seahawks.

By the time both teams reached the NFC Divisional Round on Saturday night, Seattle was a full-blown Super Bowl contender, while the blowout Niners – without nick bossa, fred warner And george kittel – were hanging on by a thread, in the hope of conjuring some magic to remove another important disturbance.

Ultimately, after 18 games in which the 49ers somehow found a way to win, there was nothing left to give. For the second time in three weeks, Seattle proved it was the better and more complete team, and whatever magic the 49ers had mustered up for much of the campaign evaporated.

A blowout loss to a division rival in the playoff stage will undoubtedly be painful for San Francisco as it enters a crucial offseason.

However, when it’s over, the 49ers should be encouraged by a season that was supposed to be a reset, yet resulted in 13 wins and a trip to the NFC Final Four. There will be a lot to figure out in the coming months, not the least of which is solving his continuing injury problem. The pass rush, receiver group and secondary will all require significant resources to improve. A new defensive coordinator may be needed if Robert Saleh leaves for another head coaching opportunity.

They may not want to hear it this soon, but the Niners will have a lot of work to do after sorting out the wreckage of Saturday’s demolition.

turn: The Seahawks opened the contest with a 95-yard kick return for a touchdown. Rasheed ShaheedThe 49ers’ offense, at least, was moving forward with a chance to get points on the board and placate the boisterous Seattle crowd. Facing third-and-1 at Seattle’s 40-yard line, San Francisco coach Kyle Shanahan ran brock purdy The quarterback sneak that he had worked on all season and called for the run Christian McCaffreyWhich was stopped without any benefit.

Shanahan went for it on fourth down and appeared to convert on Purdy’s throw to the wideout john jennings. But the officials waved the play and gave the Seahawks a timeout. Extra time resulted in a very beautiful playcall with the fullback kyle juszczyk McCaffrey is going right with the option to pitch. For the last second time the toss went out of bounds. Seattle took the lead and kicked a field goal to push the early lead to 10–0, allowing the Niners to never come within a score again.

Most Amazing Performance: The 49ers wide receiver was nowhere to be found.

San Francisco expected Ricky PearsallReturning from knee and ankle injuries will help open things up for the offense, but Purdy’s only success against Seattle’s top-ranked defense for most of the night was at tight end. Jake Tonges Or McCaffrey – both of whom battled injuries early in the third quarter.

Pearsall had only two targets through the opening three quarters and was unable to complete a catch late in the second quarter that would have been a decisive third-down conversion. The Niners receivers had three catches for 24 yards on 10 targets, which was not enough for a team missing Kittle (Achilles).

Statistics to know: How big was Seattle’s win over the Niners? The 35-point margin of loss was not only the largest in any game in the Shanahan era (starting in 2017), but the second-largest margin in a playoff game in franchise history. The only bad postseason loss by the 49ers came in the 1987 divisional round. New York Giants. San Francisco lost 49–3, the fifth-largest margin of defeat in any postseason contest. –Nick Wagner

Next game: Week 1, 2026