If you were looking for a nail-biter, Saturday night was a total letdown. Honestly, seeing the 49ers game end with a 41-6 scoreline felt less like a playoff matchup and more like a training camp scrimmage. The Seattle Seahawks didn't just win; they essentially dismantled a San Francisco team that looked exhausted from the jump.
Walking into Lumen Field, there was this electric vibe. The 12th Man was screaming. Richard Sherman and Kam Chancellor were on the sidelines revving up the crowd like it was 2013 all over again. Then Rashid Shaheed took the opening kickoff 95 yards to the house.
Thirteen seconds. That is all it took for the momentum to vanish.
Who's Winning 49ers Game: The Seattle Beatdown
By the time most fans had even found their seats, the scoreboard already looked lopsided. For anyone asking who's winning 49ers game during the actual broadcast, the answer was "Seattle, by a lot" from the first quarter until the final whistle. The Seahawks are now officially heading to the NFC Championship, leaving Kyle Shanahan and Brock Purdy to figure out what happened to a season that once looked so promising.
It wasn't just the kickoff return. Kenneth Walker III was a nightmare for the Niners' defensive front. He finished the night with three rushing touchdowns and well over 100 yards. Every time the 49ers looked like they might claw back into it, Walker would find a gap and rip off 15 yards.
What went wrong for San Francisco?
Basically, everything. The 49ers were injury-ravaged coming into this one, but that doesn't fully explain the three turnovers they coughed up.
Ernest Jones IV played like a man possessed. He forced a fumble on tight end Jake Tonges early on and then picked off Brock Purdy in the third quarter. It was the kind of performance that justifies every draft pick Seattle traded to get him.
The Niners' offense just felt... flat.
Purdy was under constant duress. He ended up with only 236 total yards as a team, which is abysmal for a squad with this much talent. They couldn't find the end zone once. Not a single touchdown. Two field goals were all they could muster. For a team that usually thrives on creative play-calling and YAC (yards after catch), seeing Deebo Samuel and George Kittle neutralized was surreal.
The Sam Darnold Revenge Tour
There's a bit of irony in Sam Darnold being the one to send his former team home. He wasn't even 100%. Dealing with an oblique injury that had him listed as questionable all week, he played a gutsy, efficient game. He didn't need to be Patrick Mahomes. He just needed to not make mistakes, and he didn't.
He threw a 4-yard score to Jaxon Smith-Njigba in the second quarter that pretty much signaled the beginning of the end. While Purdy was scrambling for his life, Darnold was just moving the chains and letting Kenneth Walker do the heavy lifting.
- The Score: 41-6 Seahawks.
- The Venue: Lumen Field, Seattle.
- The Stakes: A trip to the NFC Championship.
- The Reality: Total domination in all three phases.
What Most People Get Wrong About This Matchup
People kept pointing to the Wild Card win against the Eagles as proof the Niners were back. That 23-19 win was gritty, sure. Christian McCaffrey catching a touchdown pass from Jauan Jennings on a trick play was the highlight of the year. But it masked some deep-seated issues with the offensive line.
Against Seattle, those cracks became craters.
The Seahawks' pass rush, led by DeMarcus Lawrence, was relentless. They finished with four fourth-down stops. Think about that. Four times the 49ers tried to be aggressive and got stuffed. It’s hard to win when you're 0-for-4 on the most critical downs of the game.
Looking ahead to 2026
The Niners are heading into a weird offseason. They have a roster that should be in its prime, but the physical toll of the last few years is clearly showing. McCaffrey is still a god-tier talent, but he can't carry a broken offense forever.
Meanwhile, Seattle waits. They’ll host either the Rams or the Bears next Sunday. If they play like they did against San Francisco, they’re going to be incredibly tough to beat at home.
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If you're a Niners fan, the next steps are pretty clear. The front office has to look at the interior offensive line. You can't let your franchise QB get hit that often and expect a different result in January. It's time to stop relying on "scheme" to hide personnel weaknesses.
For everyone else, keep an eye on Rashid Shaheed. The guy is a human highlight reel and might just be the X-factor that carries Seattle all the way to Santa Clara for Super Bowl LX.
Check the injury reports early this week for the NFC Championship game, specifically looking at Sam Darnold’s oblique. If he’s limited, the Seahawks' run game will have even more pressure to perform. Watch the film on Ernest Jones IV if you want to see how a modern linebacker should play the run-pass option.