Mr. Irrelevant is becoming very, very relevant for the Bay Area. The San Francisco 49ers are the first team of the Wild Card round to make it to the Divisional Round as they thumped their divisional-rivals Seattle Seahawks 41-23, putting the rest of the league on notice.
That’s how you show the rest of the league you are a serious Super Bowl contender.
For any pretender, this was a banana skin game that would have tripped them up and knocked them out of the playoffs.
Not only were the 49ers coming in as overwhelming home favorites against divisional archrivals Seattle Seahawks, but they were also riding a 10-game winning streak with a 7th round rookie QB. Plus, with the Seahawks overperforming all expectations in that first half to come out with a 17-16 lead, everything was pointing towards the 49ers season derailing.
Yet, Brock Purdy showed why he is the real deal at QB for the 49ers.
Overcoming a dreadful, inconsistent start to the game, Purdy lit up the Seahawks defense like a candle as he completed 18/30 passes for 332 yards and 3 TDs by finding Deebo Samuel (6 REC, 133 yards, 1 TD) and Brandon Aiyuk (3 REC, 73 yards) time and again downfield.
And with Christian McCaffrey (15 CAR, 119 yards) and the 49ers rushing game racking up 181 total rushing yards, there really wasn’t much the Seattle defense could do to prevent the 49ers titan from steamrolling them over for 501 total yards of offense and scoring 41 points.
As for the 49ers defense, they were their usual dominating selves as they forced Geno Smith (23/35 yards, 2 TDs, 1 INT) into 2 turnovers as they racked up 67 tackles, 3 sacks, 5 TFL, 1 PD, 2 QB hits, 1 FF, 1 FR, and 1 INT.
The linebacker core of Fred Warner (6 tackles), Dre Greenlaw (11 tackles), and Azeez Al-Shaari (3 tackles) were especially impressive as they stopped Kenneth Walker III (15 CAR, 63 yards, 1 TD), the presumptive Rookie of the Year, and the rest of the Seahawks running game in its tracks for just 104 yards, forcing Geno Smith to have to carry the offense.
Even though Geno Smith has been great this season, it has only been when his running game has taken some of the pressure off his shoulders. Warner, Greenlaw, and Al-Shaari made sure to place a 60-ton weight on them, which saw him and the Seahawks offense crumbling to the ground.
In truth, the only offensive Seahawks player that did himself proud was D.K. Metcalf as he was the central reason the Seahawks offense could move the ball with his 10 REC for 136 yards and 2 TDs. Though, a receiver can only do so much, and it showed as his team was blown out by 3 scores.
For anyone who thought that the playoffs would be a light to bright for Brock Purdy, they were dead wrong as the last pick in the 2022 NFL draft again rose to the occasion. Under Kyle Shanahan’s tutelage and being surrounded by the all-powerful 49ers offense, Purdy has everything around him to continue to improve and become the franchise QB this team has being crying out for.
Yet, that development is going to be under the harshest of circumstances as the 49ers are set to either face another top team in the NFC in the Divisional Round.
As for the Seahawks, they have to be proud of what they managed to accomplish this season. Nobody expected them to get 4 wins this season, let alone making the playoffs, after trading franchise QB Russell Wilson in the offseason, which just shows how strong and resilient Pete Carroll has made this Seahawks team.
We’ll have to see if the Seahawks decide to bring back Geno Smith for another year or look to draft a franchise QB with the Broncos 5th overall pick (yeah, they really won that Wilson trade). Nevertheless, whatever the Seahawks choose to do, at least the future is very bright in the Emerald City.
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