Seahawks Snake-Bit By Killer Turnover, Defensive Breakdowns in 21-13 Loss to 49ers

Despite making a valiant effort slowing down Christian McCaffrey without their top two nose tackles and cutting the lead to one score late, the Seattle Seahawks simply didn't have enough fireworks on offense to pull the upset and lost out on their chance to win the NFC West.

Unable to finish off a furious rally down the stretch, the Seahawks couldn't get their offense untracked against a swarming 49ers defense, seeing their playoff hopes dwindle further with a crushing 21-13 home loss on Thursday Night Football.

Under siege all night by Nick Bosa and a dominant pass rush, Geno Smith completed 31 out of 44 passes for 238 yards and connected with Noah Fant on a late touchdown to climb back within a score. Defensively, Quinton Jefferson provided the lone sack on rookie quarterback Brock Purdy and the team failed to create a turnover for a second straight week with safety Quandre Diggs dropping an interception in the second quarter.

Here are five quick takeaways from a third straight defeat at Lumen Field:

1. Turnovers sink underdogs in close games and the Seahawks fell victim in a critical sequence before halftime.

Continuing to be stymied by the 49ers No. 1 ranked scoring defense, the Seahawks produced a grand total of two offensive yards in the first half and had one first down on their first four possessions. But a surprisingly stingy effort kept them in striking distance and Smith found a bit of a groove, completing two first down throws to DK Metcalf and one to Noah Fant to advance to the opposing 20-yard line. While the 12-play, 62-yard drive sputtered and resulted in a Jason Myers field goal, momentum had clearly swung to the home sideline and another stop by the defense put Smith and company in a position to cut the deficit to three points or take the lead with all three timeouts and 1:48 left on the game clock.

Unfortunately, after Diggs couldn't reel in a pick on third down, Seattle didn’t just fail to capitalize on the opportunity offensively. The worst case nightmare scenario played out three plays into the drive as running back Travis Homer caught a pass on a quick check down and promptly coughed up the football on a big hit by linebacker Dre Greenlaw, allowing cornerback Charvarius Ward to scoop up the fumble and return it inside the Seahawks 10-yard line. Two plays later, Christian McCaffrey plunged into the end zone for a one-yard touchdown, giving the 49ers a 14-3 advantage going into the half. While one play doesn’t decide a football game, that miscue carried immense weight with a potential 14-point swing in a close game.

2. Once again, Seattle didn’t have much of a run game to take any pressure off Smith or slow down the pass rush.

Pitted against the NFL’s best sack artist in Nick Bosa and a swarming 49ers front seven, Smith and the Seahawks knew they were going to have to deal with consistent pressure. With rookie Ken Walker III back in the lineup after sitting out last week, they hoped to see a struggling run game find some traction. However, such wishful thinking proved to be little more than that against the league’s best rushing defense. With an 18-yard third down scramble by Smith inflating stats, they rushed eight times for 41 yards in the first half. But the running backs toted the rock seven times for 23 yards and less than 3.5 yards per carry.

In the second half, Walker bounced a duo run outside to the sideline for a 15-yard gain to push past 40 yards for the game. But that simply wasn’t going to cut it and with San Francisco still up by what felt like an insurmountable 13 points in the final quarter, Seattle had to transition into pass-heavy mode, allowing Bosa and company to tee off on Smith. Under constant duress, the veteran quarterback took a pair of critical sacks, including on a 3rd and 4 that pushed the Seahawks out of field goal range early in the fourth quarter, and also was penalized for intentional grounding on the next series, dooming a possession before it even got started. For the game, despite Walker flashing at times, they were held to just 52 yards from running backs, failing to provide the balance necessary against an elite defense.

3. Rising to the challenge without Al Woods and Bryan Mone, the Seahawks put up an admirable fight defending the run until late.

Amid a shortened week, Seahawks players and coaches were under fire for their reason ineptitude stopping the run and the criticism was beyond warranted. After allowing 223 yards on the ground to the Panthers on Sunday, they had surrendered nearly 210 yards on the ground per game while losing three of their past four. Prepping for a top-10 rushing attack anchored by McCaffrey, few expected Pete Carroll’s defense to have much success slowing them down. Losing Mone to a knee injury early in the first half with Woods already inactive made the situation even more dire.

But with the exception of a 23-yard run in the first half, Seattle actually held up quite well without its two massive nose tackles for most of the game. Myles Adams did his part filling in, registering a tackle for loss and a pass breakup while logging extensive snaps in the middle. Tanner Muse held up in place of a banged up Jordyn Brooks in the latter stages of the second half in his first notable defensive action this year as well. But in the end, it wasn’t good enough as San Francisco wound up rushing for 172 yards thanks to a long 56-yard run by Jordan Mason inside two minutes to play, icing the defeat.

4. Coverage breakdowns coupled with mad scientist playing calling did Seattle’s defense in on otherwise decent outing.

Known as one of the NFL’s best play callers for a reason, Kyle Shanahan seemed to be ahead of Seattle’s coaching staff most of the night from an Xs and Os standpoint and got off to a quick start. With the game knotted up a 0-0 with under four minutes to play in the first quarter, he called a fake double screen with tight end George Kittle running a vertical down the seam. Purdy sold the screens to perfection with a pair of pump fakes and then turned back to connect with a wide-open Kittle, who wound up racing past Diggs for a 28-yard touchdown to open scoring.

After the 49ers padded their lead thanks to Homer’s gift late in the first half with McCaffrey’s touchdown run, the Seahawks were once again fooled by Shanahan, who used the versatile running back as a decoy to draw three defenders and coverage and leave Kittle wide open down the left sideline. Purdy hit him in stride and Diggs and linebacker Cody Barton failed to get him to the ground with disappointing tackling efforts as he waltzed into the end zone for a 54-yard touchdown to extend the advantage to 21-3 just a minute into the second half. Those two plays proved to be all the difference on a night where both offenses lacked many fireworks.

5. Jason Myers remains Mr. Automatic as the main source of scoring for the Seahawks.

Maintaining his career-long tradition of playing at his best during even-numbered years, Myers kept on splitting the uprights, booting 38 and 51-yard field goals to provide Seattle’s only six points in the first three quarters. For the season, the veteran place kicker has only missed one field goal and he’s currently in the midst of one of the longest streaks in franchise history with 21 consecutive field goals made. While it likely wouldn’t have changed the outcome, that number could have been extended to 22 if not for Smith going down for a crucial third down sack early in the fourth quarter. Even with the offense sputtering and the defense still suffering from meltdowns leading to big plays, Myers anchored a strong special teams effort in defeat.

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