Rapid Reaction: Turnovers Derail Seattle Seahawks in 36-24 Loss to San Francisco 49ers

Enduring one of the worst games of his career with the Seahawks, Geno Smith's two interceptions proved killer in a sixth straight loss to the 49ers.

Oct 10, 2024; Seattle, Washington, USA; Seattle Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith (7) passes the ball while defended by San Francisco 49ers defensive end Leonard Floyd (56) during the first half at Lumen Field. Mandatory Credit: Steven Bisig-Imagn Images / Steven Bisig-Imagn Images

Continuing to spiral after a 3-0 start, the Seattle Seahawks weren't able to finish off a ferocious second half rally after falling behind by 20 points, ultimately dropping their third straight game in a 36-24 defeat to the San Francisco 49ers on Thursday Night Football.

Once again lacking much of a run game to support him, Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith endured his worst start of the season, completing 30 out of 52 passes for 312 yards with one touchdown and two costly interceptions. Pacing the receiving corps, Tyler Lockett caught four passes for 65 yards and his first touchdown of the season, while Ken Walker III also found the end zone.

Struggling in all three phases under the lights and dropping a sixth straight game to their bitter NFC West rivals, here are five quick takeaways from Seattle's latest defeat at Lumen Field:

1. If Smith wants to change the national narrative, he didn't help his cause in a dismal effort.

Through five weeks, Smith has been one of the NFL's most prolific passers anchoring Ryan Grubb's aerial attack, ranking in the top five in passing yards and completion percentage. But with a chance to slay the demons that have been the 49ers, who he has yet to beat in three seasons as a starting quarterback for the franchise, he didn't deliver the goods as his team needed him to. Right out of the gate, after completing a 30-yard pass to DK Metcalf to move Seattle into scoring position on the opening possession, he overthrew a deep corner route to Tyler Lockett and it landed in the hands of rookie safety Malik Mustapha for an interception inside the opposing five-yard line. At the half, he had only completed 50 percent of his 18 attempts for 109 yards with a pick.

Fast forwarding to the fourth quarter, the Seahawks' defense gave Smith multiple opportunities to orchestrate drives to take the lead while trailing by six by forcing a pair of punts, only for the veteran signal caller to throw two incompletions to lead to a punt and throw a bad interception trying to squeeze the ball over the middle to Metcalf. The 49ers capitalized on that latter mistake, returning the pick to the Seattle 15-yard line before Purdy hit George Kittle for the second of two touchdown connections. While he did hit Lockett for six points later in the quarter, it was too little too late with the defense unable to make another stop and the quarterback couldn't seize his latest opportunity to impress in front of a national audience.

2. An increased emphasis on the run game didn't bear much fruit, but did help from a protection standpoint.

Taking the sword earlier in the week for not calling enough run plays in Sunday's loss to the Giants, Grubb took that lesson to heart, and might have even gone too far. Only two drives into the game, Walker had as many carries as he had in on Sunday, but those touches weren't overly effective as he ended up rushing for just 20 yards on nine carries before halftime. He didn't have much better luck in the final two quarters, as away from his touchdown run in the third quarter, he was held to 11 yards on four carries. Zach Charbonnet had a bit more success with 20 yards on four carries, but he still didn't have much of an impact.

If there's a positive from all of those carries with the Seahawks rushing 19 times with their running backs, doing so limited opportunities for Nick Bosa and the 49ers pass rush to get after Smith, who miraculously wasn't sacked until the waning minute. Some of that falls on the quarterback for evading pressure, particularly with Bosa winning most of his matchups off the edge against Charles Cross and Stone Forsythe, but running the ball did help slow the rush down a bit and prevent them from teeing off on him quite as much.

3. Unable to corral Brock Purdy, the Seahawks' pass rush suffered through another sack-less game.

While he won't be mistaken for Lamar Jackson or even rookie Jayden Daniels, Purdy has underrated athleticism and slipperiness in the pocket and the Seahawks have had an incredibly difficult time getting to him for sacks in the past. Unfortunately, that trend continued on Thursday night, as the sneaky quarterback took advantage of too aggressive of passing lanes on several occasions to tuck and run for first downs, including twice on the opening drive to lead to a Matthew Wright field goal. He also used his underrated wheels to scramble outside of the pocket and avoid sacks as well, keeping the 49ers consistently on schedule without big losses of yardage.

Overall, Seattle registered a mere four quarterback hits on Purdy, turning none of those into sacks. After generating a bit of pressure in the first quarter, from that point on, San Francisco's quarterback didn't have to worry about defenders coming after him, regularly enjoying clean pockets with minimal hinderance as he carved up the defense for 255 yards on only 18 completions. Until Macdonald can figure out how to scheme up more pressure, it's going to be difficult for these rivalry matches to play into the Seahawks' favor even on their home turf.

4. Three days to soul search did nothing to help Seattle's abysmal run defense.

Playing their third game in 10 days, the Seahawks were still licking their wounds after allowing 175 rushing yards to the Giants on Sunday, and even with a few days to regroup and break down film, it wasn't near enough time to try to fix what ails Macdonald's group. On the opening series, following Smith's first interception, Jordan Mason exploded through a large gap in the B-gap on the left side with linebacker Tyrel Dodson unable to get off of a block at the second level, cutting to his right after he passed the defender and racing 37 yards deep into Seattle territory. Along with Mason's 65 rushing yards before half, Purdy added 20 on three carries as San Francisco racked up 105 total yards in two quarters.

Seattle appeared to catch a break early in the third quarter when Mason tweaked his shoulder and ultimately only carried the ball one more time before being ruled out for the rest of the night. But even with the third and fourth string backs Isaac Guerendo and Patrick Taylor Jr. thrust into action, San Francisco kept pounding the rock with great success in the second half. Putting the dagger into the Seahawks in the closing moments, Guerendo rocketed through a big crease on the right side on 1st and 10 and sprinted down the sideline on a 76-yard run before being tripped up by cornerback Devon Witherspoon. Fullback Kyle Juszczyk scored two plays later with a rushing touchdown of his own and the 49ers sealed a 12-point victory, capping off the night with 228 rushing yards and 6.8 yards per carry as a team, leaving the Seahawks with nothing but questions moving forward.

5. Special teams giveth, special teams taketh away on a roller coaster night for Jay Harbaugh's crew.

If there's an area of the game that sums up where the Seahawks find themselves after six weeks of the season, special teams takes the cake. As Macdonald told reporters after the game, there's plenty of great plays in the third phase, but the units have also been hindered by far too many miscues. Immediately after Julian Love whiffed on a tackle attempt after busted coverage on Deebo Samuel's 76-yard touchdown, receiver Laviska Shenault coughed up a fumble on the ensuing kickoff, setting the 49ers up for another Wright field goal to extend the advantage to 16-0. Another turnover could have happened in the second half, as Seattle dodged a bullet in the fourth quarter when officials ruled Dee Williams didn't touch a punt after a San Francisco defender was pushed into him, though a later replay revealed his finger did touch the ball.

On the flip side, Shenault did the best thing he could to achieve redemption after his costly fumble. After the 49ers scored on their opening drive of the third quarter to increase their lead to 23-3, the veteran wideout broke a pair of tackles, juked out a would-be tackler, then turned on the afterburners on a 97-yard kickoff return for six points, providing the much-needed spark to get the Seahawks going after a challenging first half. Jake Bobo also made a big hit on a punt, standing out as a rare bright spot for a special teams group that continues to struggle with mistakes.