SANTA CLARA — 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan sounded like he was fuming at halftime of Saturday’s game against the Seattle Seahawks, and for good reason. His team should have been leading but trailed by one point at the break, thanks to a boneheaded unnecessary roughness penalty by Jimmie Ward on his tackle of Geno Smith to set up a last-second field goal.
At that point of the game, it seemed like any free points could come back to bite the Niners. Then the second half happened, as the defense helped quell any concerns of a Seahawks upset. Those three charity points wouldn’t matter, as the 49ers ran away with a 41-23 victory in the opener of NFL’s Super Wild Card Weekend.
"We get to sit back, watch a lot of football this weekend," tight end George Kittle said with a big smile.
Football is filled with games within the game. Perhaps Saturday’s contest turned on a key sequence in the third quarter.
Seahawks wide receiver DK Metcalf spent much of the afternoon terrorizing 49ers and top cover man Mooney Ward, but the Niners corner got the best of him in a one-on-one situation in the end zone, breaking up a would-be touchdown.
Metcalf burned Ward for a 50-yard touchdown and also got some big grabs to move the chains against him, but Ward came up clutch before the 49ers' biggest play of the game.
"He had a hell of game," Mooney Ward said of Metcalf. "I wasn’t locked in, focused. He got the best of me today. He made plays but I made one or two. But we got another week to get better, stay back, bounce back. I’ll be back next week for sure."
The next play, the 49ers defensive line animated from its Frankenstein state, as Charles Omenihu stripped the ball and Nick Bosa leaped on the ball like a big-biceped vacuum cleaner.
If you could point to a single play as the turning point in the game, this was it.
"Once we got the turnover, I thought that’s when I thought the momentum completely changed for the whole game," Shanahan said. "Once our defense did that I think they got their mojo back.”
From there, the blowout was on. Brock Purdy shined in his first career playoff game and the Niners rolled up the score, turning a six-point lead into an 18-point drubbing.
Purdy finished 18-of-39 for 332 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions, while also rushing for another score. Despite missing his targets consistently in the first half, Purdy didn’t turn the ball over and repeatedly kept plays alive with his legs. That’s four touchdowns and no turnovers in his postseason debut. Playoff pressure? What pressure?
Christian McCaffrey continues to be a game-changer for the Niners, as his 68-yard scamper in the first half highlighted a 119-yard, one-touchdown day. In his 12 games with San Francisco, CMC has 12 total touchdowns while bringing it all together for the offense.
The Seahawks had trouble taking down Deebo Samuel all afternoon and he finished with six catches for a playoff career-high 133 yards. Deebo iced the game early in the fourth quarter when he took a short pass from Purdy down the left sideline for a 74-yard score.
For all the concerns and doubts that may have crept in at halftime, the 49ers made the end result fitting of a team that has won 11 straight contests. The Niners rattled off 25 straight points before the Seahawks scored a garbage time touchdown to prevent a second-half shutout.
"That’s kinda been the story for us lately, getting off to a slow start," Mooney Ward said. "Then coming in (at halftime) and making some adjustments, coach (DeMeco Ryans). We just a lot of times take off in the second half. We don’t want it to be like that, we wanna come out full speed, but we got the win and that’s all that really matters."
In the process, the 49ers moved to 9-0 against the NFC West this season, including 3-0 against the hated Seahawks.
"There's nothing like sweeping the division and beating them again in the playoffs," George Kittle said. "I wish one of 'em else was in there so we could beat 'em again, too."
If the No. 3 seed Minnesota Vikings beat the No. 6 seed New York Giants on Sunday (1:30 p.m. PT), the Vikes will head to Santa Clara. If the Giants pull off the upset, they’ll head to Philadelphia for a matchup with the Eagles, which would leave the 49ers to face the winner of Monday’s Dallas Cowboys-Tampa Bay Buccaneers contest.
