San Franscisco is an unstoppable force at this point. Despite being on their third string QB, the 49ers have once again won the NFC West as they beat the Seattle Seahawks 21-13 to win the division and clinch a playoff spot for a second straight season.
What can anyone say that’s not already been said about the 49ers? They’re an absolute unstoppable machine that has the power to wreck any opponent, regardless of their record or the superstars playing for them, for fun. And that’s what they did to the Seahawks last night.
There wasn’t a point in that game where the Seahawks looked like mounting a comeback or a scoring run to even threaten the 49ers lead, let alone overtake it and keep the NFC West division race alive. Coming into the game with a 7-7 record and practically needing to win out in order to stay alive in the title race, the Seahawks looked like a team that knew it was up against an insurmountable opponent. And they played like it.
The Seahawks offense was paltry in both the rushing and pashing game with the rushing game failing to reach 100 total yards and the passing game just breaking the 200 yards threshold, leaving the offense to gaining just 277 yards of total offense. Obviously, unless you’re the 1985 Bears offense with a defense that can literally win games on its own, that won’t win you many games in this league.
Still, I won’t be too harsh on Seattle as they were up against the best defense in football as the 49ers D swallowed up the Seahawks from the first minute of the game. Garnering 60 tackles, 3 sacks, 5 TFL, 7 PD, and 9 QB hits, the 49ers defense made Geno Smith and Kenneth Walker III’s lives a living nightmare.
Walker was only rushed 12 times and could only gain 47 yards, while Geno Smith was barely able to make headway through the air as he completed 31/44 passes for 238 yards and 1 TD. Not even DK Metcalf (7 REC, 55 yards) or Tyler Lockett (7 REC, 68 yards) had good games as they both finished with less than 70 receiving yards and zero touchdowns.
Fred Warner (8 tackles), Nick Bosa (2 tackles, 1 sack, 1 TFL, 1 PD, 2 QB hits), Dre Greenlaw (8 tackles, 2 PD), Samson Ebukam (1 tackle, 1 sack, 1 TFL, 1 PD, 2 QB hits), Arik Armstead (1 tackle, 1 QB hit) were simply sensational in stopping the run, while Charvarius Ward (6 tackles, 2 PD, 1 FUM REC), Jimmie Ward (4 tackles, 1 TFL), Talanoa Hufanga (5 tackles, 1 sack, 1 PD, 1 QB hit), and Deommodore Lenoir (10 tackles, 1 TFL) shutdown the passing lanes in the secondary.
I say that the Seahawks offense was paltry but what else could they have been against this 49ers defense.
Demarco Ryans has built one of the best defenses I’ve seen in the last decade. No other unit would have been able to stick together after so many setbacks and season-ending injuries on the other side of the ball like this 49ers unit. I mean, we’ve seen how true that is as their own division rivals, the LA Rams, have undergone a similar injury situation to San Franscisco, though they have not been able to withstand the pressure.
If Demarco Ryans doesn’t get a head coaching job after this season, even if the 49ers fail to win the Super Bowl, then the owners of all the dreadful teams in the league are either idiots or worse. It’s incredible what he’s built since Robert Salah, the former DC of the 49ers, left the 49ers after the 2020/21 season.
Anyway, the side of the ball that might actually overcome all the odds and get the 49ers to the Super Bowl, the injury-riddled offense, once again looked dangerous and robotic.
I take back everything bad I’ve ever said about Kyle Shanahan and his offensive schemes: he’s the real deal.
When he gets a quarterback that understands him, he’s able to do things that the most eccentric offensive coordinators could only dream of. And that QB looks to be Mr. Irrelevant himself: Brock Purdy.
What the former Iowa State QB and literal last pick in the 2022 draft has been able to do since being thrusted into the lineup. He was never supposed to be as good as he’s been since becoming the starting QB, which just adds to his charm. It’s hard not to fall in love with Purdy as a quarterback given how humble and determined he is, and he showed that with his performance against the Seahawks.
Not putting one foot wrong, Purdy completed 17/26 of his passes for 217 yards and 2 TDs. He was simple sensational as he was picking apart a very good Seahawks defense like it was nothing, further proving that he might very well be the QB that Kyle Shanahan and the 49ers have been crying out for.
Of course, it wasn’t just Purdy as Christian McCaffrey (26 CAR, 108 yards, 1 TD) and Jordan Mason (4 CAR, 64 yards) were devastating coming out of the backfield as they helped the 49ers reach 170 rushing yards and 381 total offensive yards, while George Kittle had a monster day with 4 receptions for 93 yards and 2 touchdowns. But that is just another head of Kyle Shanahan’s offense juggernaut.
And that juggernaut has led the 49ers (10-4) to their second NFC West division title under Kyle Shanahan, while it has left Pete Carroll’s Seahawks (7-7) in an extremely tenuous position of missing out on the playoffs after such a bright start to the year.
Images Source: Featured Image:
