The San Francisco 49ers further solidified their hold on the NFC West, and strengthened their push for the top seed in the NFC, with a 28-16 victory over the division rival Seattle Seahawks on Sunday.
Brock Purdy threw for 368 yards and two touchdowns while Christian McCaffrey added 145 yards on the ground -- including a 72-yard scamper on the game's opening play. All of San Francisco's star skill players had huge games: Brandon Aiyuk caught six passes for 126 yards. Deebo Samuel hauled in seven for 149 and a score, and also had a 1-yard rushing touchdown. George Kittle had just three receptions, but one of them was a 44-yard touchdown.
After a strong opening drive from the Seahawks (eight plays for 75 yards and a touchdown), the 49ers mostly clamped down the rest of the day, holding Seattle to nine points over the final 55 or so minutes of play. They also sacked Drew Lock four times and intercepted him twice, and could have had at least two more picks at different times.
Once they took the lead midway through the second quarter, they were only briefly challenged, and it was ultimately a comfortable victory that moved them to 10-3 and dropped Seattle to 6-7.
They just kept making big plays offensively. Christian McCaffrey opened the game with a 72-yard run. He later added runs of 20 and 23 yards as well. Brandon Aiyuk had catches of 25, 45, and 30 yards. Deebo Samuel had a 54-yard touchdown and two other catches of 25 and 30 yards, along with a rushing score. George Kittle had a 44-yard house call and another 27-yard grab. When you get that many explosives, you're bound to put a ton of points on the board. And that's what San Francisco did.
When the 49ers went three consecutive first-half drives without scoring (two punts and an interception), the Seahawks managed only three points in the interim. That was their chance to make a real dent in this game, and they did not take advantage. After that, they ended up playing from behind the rest of the game, and when you are working without your starting quarterback, that is never a good place to be. Drew Lock made some plays, but it wasn't enough to overcome the San Francisco offensive machine.
The Seahawks actually held a surprising lead midway through the second quarter of this game. The Niners needed just two plays to score on their opening possession, but then Seattle held them to back-to-back three-and-outs on their next two drives. With just over 8 minutes remaining in the second quarter, San Francisco had yet to convert a third-down opportunity.
Then this happened.
That's a 54-yard touchdown pass on third-and-11, and it gave the Niners their lead back for the first time since the opening moments. They wouldn't relinquish it the rest of the afternoon.
Sure, the Niners won the game, but the prettiest play of the afternoon came from the Seahawks. Check out the gorgeous throw from Drew Lock right here, and then the fantastic footwork from DK Metcalf.
Lock ultimately completed 22 of 31 passes for 269 yards, two touchdowns, and two interceptions. But Metcalf had a very quiet day after this snag, not catching a single pass before he was ejected late in the fourth quarter.
The 49ers are 10-3 and remain in the race for the No. 1 seed in the NFC. They own the head-to-head tiebreaker against both the Eagles and Cowboys. They finish out the season with games at Arizona, home against Baltimore, at Washington, and home against the Rams.
The Seahawks are now 6-7 but they remain firmly in the NFC playoff mix. There are a ton of teams with either six or seven wins, and ultimately two of them (along with whichever team wins the NFC South) are likely to make the postseason. The Seahawks finish their season with games against Philadelphia, at Tennessee, home against Pittsburgh and at Arizona.
The Seahawks drop to 6-7 and are in the mix with a whooooole bunch of 6-win teams in the NFC, including the Packers (for now, they play tomorrow night), Buccaneers, Rams, Falcons, and Saints.
The 49ers will improve to 10-3 with this win. I believe they have clinched the NFC West as well. They have a chance to move into first place in the NFC tonight depending on the result of the Cowboys-Eagles game, as they hold the tiebreaker over both teams.
Third-down conversion to Kittle and that's probably the ball game. Seahawks have timeouts, but the Niners can probably just kneel out the clock given the deficit.
So it's dueling personal fouls on DK Metcalf and Deommodore Lenoir, and they've both been ejected.
Diving interception by Fred Warner will probably clinch this game.
Or maybe not? There is a LONG discussion between the refs right now.
If this interception by Lenoir stands it effectively ends the game... but Nick Bosa gets called for offsides and gives the Seahawks a key first down.
Fourth sack of the game for the San Francisco defense. Seems like they have all come at huge moments, too.
Nice play by Michael Jackson forcing that incompletion. Drove on the ball intended for Jauan Jennings on third down. Seahawks need to score in a hurry to have a chance here.
Ho-hum, another big catch-and-run for Deebo. Tack on 15 more yards for a horse-collar tackle?
That might have been Lock's best throw of the day. Beat Warner with the throw and dropped it in just ahead of the two deep safeties. Really nice stuff.
Incredible play by Julian Love.
Oh wow what a huge play. Aiyuk was on his way to yet another big play and Julian Love stripped him from behind. Love had the interception earlier in the game, too.
Lock finally got punished for throwing a dangerous ball. He did it on the first play of the game and Ward dropped the pick. He did it in the first play of the second half and two guys dropped the pick. And now he did it again and the Niners finally caught the ball.
Big touchdown for George Kittle and that's gonna stand as he was held at the stem of his route. Huge comeback drive for the Niners.
Deebo is just absurd. Big play waiting to happen in a variety of ways.
GORGEOUS play call. Fake screen to Walker and let the tight end leak out over the middle. Beautiful.
Kenneth Walker is ridiculous. He makes some absolutely outrageous plays. Just cutbacks and broken tackles all over the place. And Dre Greenlaw is down at the end of the play.
And they give Deebo the touchdown on the next play. That's nice of them.
DEEBO. Down at the half-yard line but an incredible effort to nearly get into the end zone.
Outrageously good throw on the move to his left by Purdy. Aiyuk on the scramble drill for a huge gain. Niners back in business.
Clelin Ferrell, best known as the surprise No. 4 overall pick for the Raiders who did not live up to that draft spot, just made a really nice play in the backfield on second down. Not sure why Seattle keeps running it on second-and-long. It's not getting the third-and-manageables the Seahawks presumably want to set up. It's just pinning them back even further and letting the rushers tee off on third down.
The Seahawks have run 26 plays for just 97 yards since their opening-drive touchdown. Where is the aggressiveness they showed early in the game?
Enormous break for the Seahawks with the penalty on Ronnie Bell behind the play. Erases a potential red-zone opportunity.
