49ers Week Eighteen Temperature Check

After taking a beating against the Seahawks, it beginning to feel more a lot chillier around Santa Clara.

Coming off of a six-game win streak, the 49ers welcomed the Seattle Seahawks to Levi’s Stadium for a showdown for the NFC West crown. After weeks of offensive explosions, the Seahawks smothered Brock Purdy and company in a dismal 13-3 loss. What was good? Who was bad? Where did it go sideways? Let’s dive in and take a look.

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Travel Plans

With the NFC West and home field advantage on the line, the 49ers were manhandled by the Seahawks, pushing them down to the sixth seed in the NFC. After Sunday’s games concluded, the 49ers, and the traveling road show that is the Faithful, will be headed to Philadelphia for a Wild Card matchup with the Eagles. While the Niners will be looking for playoff redemption for the 2023 NFC Championship Game loss. While there is plenty of history and cheesesteaks to take in while in Philly, the Faithful must remember one thing: Leave the Rocky statue alone.

The Warner Family

Fred Warner has been a staple at home games since his injury, but was noticeably absent on Saturday night, and for good reason. Video was posted after the game of Warner watching the game from a maternity ward while awaiting the birth of his second child. Congratulations to the Warner family!

Lukewarm

Playoff Redemption

While staying at home was the ideal path for the playoffs, it simply was not in the cards. The 49ers now have an opportunity for a little redemption against an Eagles team that beat them three years ago in the NFC Championship game while taking out Brock Purdy in the process. A win on Sunday would go a long way to erase that memory and would set up a possible second redemption shot the following week with a trip to Seattle.

Cold

Third and Seventeen

Early in the fourth quarter with Seattle facing a third and 17, the 49ers had an opportunity to flip the momentum and climb back in the game. And then the defense allowed Kenneth Walker to convert for a first down with a 19-yard run that was a back breaker for a defense that was struggling to slow the Seahawks rushing attack. ESPN cameras captured GM John Lynch’s reaction to the play, which had to be comparable to 49ers fan watching.

49ers run game

Over the past few weeks, the 49ers run game had seemingly gotten back on track. On Saturday, whether due to play calling or effectiveness, the run game just could not get going. The 49ers only attempted 12 attempts for just 53 yards. Two of the attempts were scrambles from Purdy that gained 21 yards and significantly improved the average yards per carry.

Tackling

While seemingly a fundamental part of the game, the 49ers have been struggling to make tackles and that could have been more on display than against Seattle. The lone touchdown of the game was due to a poor angle by safety Ji’Ayir Brown, and an even worse effort to secure the edge. Dee Winters struggled all night prior to leaving the game with an injury to bring any Seahawks offensive player to a stop.

Offensive Line play

When Trent Williams was announced as out, there was plenty of uncertainty as to how Austin Pleasants and the rest of the offensive line would hold up. The concerns were quickly, and repeatedly, confirmed as the Seattle defensive front harassed and battered Purdy all night. This culminated as Purdy was doubled over late in the game and struggled to get up.

Rivalry Uniforms

Aesthetically, the rivalry uniforms looked good, but they did not give the expected “49ers” vibe that should be expected when playing in a big game on national television. A gimmicky uniform belongs in a meaningless week 9 game against an out of conference opponent, not in what would be a divisional championship game. Factoring in the end result, those uniforms should be locked away for quite a while.

Black should be reserved for the Raiders and the weekly mourning process that their fans have to endure.