Game Recap: Geno Smith's Game-Winner Snaps Seahawks' 6-Game Skid vs. 49ers

Geno Smith scrambled for a 13-yard touchdown with 12 seconds remaining to lift the Seattle Seahawks to a 20-17 win over the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday.

Nov 17, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; Seattle Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith (7) scores a rushing touchdown past San Francisco 49ers cornerback Isaac Yiadom (22) to win the game in the fourth quarter at Levi's Stadium. / David Gonzales-Imagn Images

Geno Smith entered Sunday’s game 0-5 against the San Francisco 49ers as the starting quarterback for the Seattle Seahawks. The Niners had won the previous six matchups against Seattle dating back to Dec. 5, 2021.

On Thursday, Smith said the matchup was “very personal.” With the trajectory of their season on the line, Smith shook off a bad third-quarter interception and capped off a game-winning touchdown drive via a 13-yard rushing score with 12 seconds left in the game — lifting the Seahawks to a 20-17 victory over the Niners at Levi’s Stadium.

Seattle (5-5, 1-2 NFC West) was at risk of falling deeper into a last-place hole in the division after losing five of their previous six games heading into the bye week. Now, they have leapfrogged San Francisco (5-5, 1-3 NFC West) heading into a bout with the first-place Arizona Cardinals in Week 12.

"We knew how much was at stake, man," Smith said postgame. "We're trying to turn our season around. We had a bye week, and we've got eight games ahead of us to put ourselves in positions that we want to be in. So this is just a step in the right direction for us, and so I was very ecstatic and happy for that."

It was also a hallmark win for first-year Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald. Seattle hadn’t held Kyle Shanahan’s Niners offense to under 20 points since Week 13 of the 2018 season.

Macdonald was hired to re-imagine the Seahawks’ defense, and it wasn’t working as intended through the first nine games of the season. The bye week changes, which included waiving starting linebacker Tyrel Dodson in favor of rookie Tyrice Knight, paid off.

After allowing a season-high 228 rushing yards versus San Francisco in Week 6, the Seahawks held the Niners’ running backs to 92 yards rushing on 21 carries. Niners quarterback Brock Purdy also logged a season-low 159 yards passing against Seattle's coverage.

"I've been saying it the whole time, it's all 11 guys on defense," Macdonald said postgame. "So, in order for those guys to do their jobs, we've got to set edges up front. We've got to play with knockback and stay alive, especially against the wide zone stuff. So it's a team shoutout on playing good run defense, and inside [line]backers need to make tackles, and I think we made a ton of tackles at inside backer today, and that's great for us. It's a full defensive team effort."

Seattle stayed within striking distance at halftime, trailing just 7-6. It was a much more manageable deficit than the Seahawks’ Week 6 situation, which saw them down 16-3 after two quarters.

The Seahawks’ defense was the difference, pressuring San Francisco quarterback Brock Purdy and finally taking him to the turf in the second quarter for the first time this season. Purdy finished the first half 11-of-15 passing for 81 yards and an interception (21 of 28, 159 yards, 1 TD and 1 INT in the game).

The pick was hauled in by nose tackle Johnathan Hankins, who nabbed the first interception of his 162-game career off a pass breakup by cornerback Devon Witherspoon.

November 17, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; Seattle Seahawks defensive tackle Johnathan Hankins (97) catches the football for an interception against the San Francisco 49ers during the second quarter at Levi's Stadium. / Kyle Terada-Imagn Images

But Purdy still evaded the Seattle pass rush more often than he succumbed to its heat. The Niners quarterback made them pay on a 10-yard touchdown scramble late in the first quarter — the longest scoring rush of Purdy’s three-year career.

Offensively, the Seahawks continued their pre-bye week trend: Two steps forward, one step back. Sacks of Smith, a poor snap and an inconsistent rushing attack hampered promising drives, leading to just two field goals for Seattle.

Seattle finished the first half with 104 total yards. They had a golden opportunity to capitalize on Hankins’ interception midway through the second quarter, but the offense went backward nine yards in three plays.

The first drive of the second half for the Seahawks offense was emblematic of the unit’s issues all season: A short first-down run and second-down incompletion necessitated a long third-down conversion which, with Smith trying to do too much, led to an unforced interception on their own side of the field.

While targeting wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba on a roll out to his left, Smith sailed the pass and it went right to Niners cornerback Isaac Yiadom, who returned it to Seattle’s 27-yard line.

But after holding the Niners to a field goal via stout defense, the offense found a groove. Offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb kept faith in Smith’s arm and Seattle drove 70 yards via 11 plays to score its first touchdown.

Smith finished the drive 5-of-6 passing for 63 yards, and running back Kenneth Walker III capped the drive with a 1-yard touchdown run — his first score since Week 7 versus the Atlanta Falcons. Seattle took a 13-10 advantage late in the third quarter.

Niners All-Pro edge rusher Nick Bosa left the game in the second half with a hip/oblique injury, mitigating some of the pressure on Smith the rest of the game and on Seattle's first touchdown drive.

San Francisco responded with another impressive drive. Purdy targeted Jauan Jennings four times and completed three of them, including a 13-yard catch-and-truck play on third down inside the Seahawks’ red zone.

Jennings carried four defenders across the first down marker, and he caught a short touchdown reception two plays later to give the Niners a 17-13 lead. By far San Francisco's top playmaker on the day, Jennings finished with 10 catches for 91 yards and a touchdown.

Nov 17, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Jauan Jennings (15) celebrates after making a first down against the Seattle Seahawks in the first quarter at Levi's Stadium. / David Gonzales-Imagn Images

Seattle’s next drive brought a regression to its previous trend. After working 33 yards downfield, the Seahawks had two plays to pick up one yard at the Niners’ 37-yard line. Smith sneaked it on third down and was stopped. Running back Zach Charbonnet was handed the ball on a full back dive and couldn’t pick it up on fourth down — shades of the team’s mistakes during their overtime possession that led to their loss to the Los Angeles Rams in Week 9.

San Francisco got the ball back with just under four minutes remaining in the game, leading by four points. The Seahawks forced the Niners into their third punt of the day to get one more chance to go down and win the game.

Smith completed four passes to Smith-Njigba — finishing with 10 catches and 110 yards receiving on the day — on the final drive and had two long scrambles, including the game-winner. In a tug-of-war game that had too often landed in the Niners' favor in recent years, the Seahawks finally etched one in the win column.

Ending the drought

During San Francisco’s six-game win streak against the Seahawks over three seasons, the Niners have averaged 30.7 points per game. The last time the Niners scored under 20 points against Seattle was on Dec. 2, 2018, in a 43-16 loss to the Seahawks.

The Seahawks didn’t need to hang around in a shootout to snap their losing streak against their bitter NFC West rivals. It was a defensive battle, reminiscent of the games Seattle was winning when it went 17-4 against San Francisco from 2012–21.

Smith, of course, scored the game-winning touchdown, but the positive differences in the Seahawks' defense were the catalyst to keeping the game within reach for the offense.

"For this team, for this win, man, I'm just so thankful to be a Seattle Seahawk," said linebacker Ernest Jones IV, who had a team-high 13 tackles. "[These] years have been crazy for me, but to get a win like that against a good team like that and to see how this team reacted and responded, man, I'm thankful I'm a Seahawk."

Smith-Njigba breaking out

In crucial, got-to-have-it moments, Smith-Njigba is emerging as Smith’s favorite target. After his four catches on the Seahawks’ game-winning drive, he went over 100 yards receiving for the second straight week and third time this season.

"I love making those plays when we need it, when it's time," Smith-Njigba said. "I love to show up for my team, whenever they need me, I'm there."

Smith-Njigba didn’t surpass triple-digit receiving yards once as a rookie last season. He now has 17 catches for 390 yards and two touchdowns over Seattle’s last two games — even with DK Metcalf back on the field this week.

Up next

The Seahawks return home for a game against the division-leading Cardinals (6-4, 2-0 NFC West). Seattle is 3-1 on the road this season and 2-4 at home, including four straight losses in front of the crowd at Lumen Field.

Arizona will be coming off a bye, having beaten the New York Jets 31-6 in their last game in Week 10. The Cardinals have already beaten the Niners and Rams this season.