Lumen Field (Seattle) – Yes, the Seattle Seahawks are legit.
The Seahawks destroyed the San Francisco 49ers 41-6 on Saturday in the NFC Divisional Round in front of a rowdy crowd at Lumen Field, advancing them to the NFC Championship game between the winner of the Chicago Bears and the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday.
The 28-point loss was the second-worst in San Francisco’s playoff history, only beaten by a 49-3 loss to the New York Giants in the 1986 NFC Divisional Round. The shorthanded 49ers ran out of gas on a short week.
The Seahawks tied their largest victory in postseason franchise history — Seattle’s 43-8 Super Bowl win over the Denver Broncos in February 2014. Seattle moved a game away from advancing to the Super Bowl for the fourth time in franchise history with the win. The last three times the Seahawks hosted the NFC championship game, they won.
Here are my takeaways:
Darnold showed no ill effects from the oblique injury he suffered on Thursday, which forced him to miss practice and limited his throwing until pregame warmups.
Darnold was efficient, finishing 12-of-17 for 124 yards, with a four-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba. He posted a 110.9 passer rating. More importantly, Darnold, who led the league during the regular season with 20 turnovers, didn’t throw an interception.
Darnold earned his first postseason win, furthering the narrative of the USC product overcoming underwhelming performances in big games last season. As Seattle has done all year, Darnold leaned on his supporting cast, including 116 rushing yards and three touchdowns by Walker.
However, fellow running back Zach Charbonnet left the game with a knee injury and did not return, which could affect Seattle’s ability to move the football moving forward.
Speaking of Seattle’s supporting cast for Darnold, Shaheed has been a revelation as a returner for the Seahawks. Picked up in a midseason trade from the New Orleans Saints, the San Diego native now has three returns for a score with his new team. The latest was a 95-yard kick return for a touchdown on the opening play of the game against San Francisco, the longest postseason kickoff return for a touchdown in Seahawks franchise history.
Seahawks’ Rashid Shaheed takes opening kickoff back for TD against 49ers | NFL Highlights
Shaheed also served as gadget guy for Seattle, picking up 30 yards on an end-around run. Much like Percy Harvin did during Seattle’s Super Bowl run after the 2013 season, Shaheed has ignited the Seahawks and is an explosive play waiting to happen.
3. Opportunistic Seattle defense stymies 49ers – again
Seahawks linebacker Ernest Jones IV, who led Seattle with five interceptions during the regular season, made the first big play of the game when he stripped tight end Jake Tonges of the ball late in the first quarter, with safety Julian Love recovering the fumble.
The hits kept coming, as Jones also hauled in his sixth interception and the Seahawks also got the ball back by sacking Brock Purdy on fourth down. Defensive lineman DeMarcus Lawrence also executed a strip sack of Purdy, with Nick Emmanwori recovering. In all, Seattle’s defense held San Francisco to 205 yards and six points.
It was much like Seattle’s performance from a few weeks ago, when the Seahawks held San Francisco to 173 total yards and three points in a Week 18 road victory that clinched the No. 1 seed in the NFC Playoffs.
4. Lethargic 49ers run out of healthy bodies
Give credit to San Francisco for valiantly fighting to get to this point. They battled without frontline players like defensive end Nick Bosa, linebacker Fred Warner and tight end George Kittle. Head coach Kyle Shanahan and defensive coordinator Robert Saleh have done a masterful job of getting the most out of the healthy players still available.
But playing on a short week for a second straight week on the road, mounting injuries finally took their toll on the 49ers. San Francisco lost running back Christian McCaffrey (shoulder stinger) and Tonges (foot) during the game. And Purdy couldn’t make enough plays to overcome the injuries on both sides of the ball, finishing 14-of-24 for 133 yards, with no touchdowns and an interception.
San Francisco could also deal with an offseason of change. Saleh is in line for several head coaching opportunities, so Shanahan might be in the market for another defensive coordinator. He already has a potential candidate on his staff in senior defensive assistant Gus Bradley.
5. Cooper Kupp shows up in a predictable spot – in the postseason
A former Super Bowl MVP during a title run with the Los Angeles Rams, the Eastern Washington product is used to showing up in big moments. During that magical postseason run during the 2021 season, Kupp finished with the most receptions (33), second-most receiving yards (478) and touchdowns (six) in a single postseason.
Kupp finished with a respectable 47 receptions for 593 yards and two scores during the regular season. But in his first playoff game with his new team, Kupp led Seattle with five receptions for 60 yards on five targets. The extra week of rest treated the 32-year-old veteran receiver well.
Eric D. Williams has reported on the NFL for more than a decade, covering the Los Angeles Rams for Sports Illustrated, the Los Angeles Chargers for ESPN and the Seattle Seahawks for the Tacoma News Tribune. Follow him on X at @eric_d_williams.
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