This game was about as close to a must win game for the San Francisco 49ers as you could get without being an actual elimination game. The 49ers knew this and still got dominated by the Seattle Seahawks at home. The Seahawks played the game they needed to play and the 49ers continued to look inept on offense. Seattle is now the first team in the NFL this season to hold consecutive opponents without a touchdown and looks to be getting ready to make another run at the Super Bowl.
The story of this game begins and ends with the 49ers’ offense and it’s complete ineptitude. 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick threw for just 121 yards, zero touchdowns, and two interceptions. This ended Kaepernick’s streak of 18 straight games with at least one touchdown pass. Running back Frank Gore had just 10 carries for 28 yards. Even these stats make their offense seem better than it actually was.
A big part of Kaepernick’s poor performance was that the offensive line wasn’t giving him much time. Right tackle Jonathan Martin, starting right tackle Anthony Davis is still out from a concussion suffered two weeks ago against the New York Giants, was having trouble giving his quarterback enough time to throw even on three step drops. And when he did have enough time to throw, his receivers just weren’t getting open.
While the 49ers’ offense usually looks completely lost for at least one half in every game, Thursday night they looked lost the entire game, which is a credit to Seattle’s defense. Seattle’s defense has certainly taken a step back from last year due to injury and losing people in free agency, but they’re starting to build some momentum going into the last quarter of the season. They shut down the Arizona Cardinals last week and completely shut down the 49ers this week. They’re going to be tough to deal with going forward.
A bright side for the 49ers is, again, their defense. All season their defense has kept them in games that their offense just didn’t seem like they wanted to win. Thursday they showed up in a big way again. The only touchdown they allowed was following Kaepernick’s first interception when the Seahawks had a short field. Going into halftime the Seahawks only had a 16-0 lead when it felt like it should have been a 28-0 lead. During the whole game Seattle had ten possessions and the 49ers defense held them to one touchdown and four field goals. Considering what their offense gave them and how long the defense was on the field for, the defense did more than their fair share.
What the Seahawks were able to do on offense was exploit the inexperience of the 49ers’ inside linebackers Chris Borland, rookie, and Michael Wilhoite, only 12 total starts. While both have been doing a phenomenal job filling in for the injured All-Pros NaVorro Bowman and Patrick Willis, their inexperience definitely showed up Thursday night against the Seahawks. There were multiple plays where Seahawks running backs were running a route wide open when one of the linebackers would be double-teaming a wide receiver. There were other times a tight end would be running up the seam untouched and unguarded. The Seahawks were using offensive concepts that these inside linebackers haven’t seen at all in their young careers or have seen little of.
After this performance the 49ers should be embarrassed, particularly their offense. And on the other side the Seahawks should be encouraged that their team is taking postseason form at the perfect time. However, these teams will meet again in two weeks in Seattle and the 49ers will have a chance at redemption. Seattle is one of the hardest places to play though and the 49ers will have their work cut out for them.