There shouldn’t have been much concern about the San Francisco 49ers after a 2-3 start to the season. They were clearly still one of the best teams in football, despite a few losses.
It’s not entirely perfect for the 49ers yet, and injuries have a lot to do with that. But don’t believe that San Francisco has lost much.
The 49ers had a dominant first half against the Seattle Seahawks, let the Seahawks back in the game for a bit in the second half but ultimately slammed the door shut and beat their NFC West rival yet again. George Kittle scored twice, Deebo Samuel Sr. scored a long touchdown and the defense got a huge fourth-quarter interception to lead the 36-24 win. The 49ers are back to .500 after the victory.
In an ideal world San Francisco wouldn’t have let Seattle back in the game, it would have an undefeated record still and be the talk of the NFL. This start hasn’t been ideal. But the 49ers are still pretty good.
49ers take an early lead
One of the reasons the Seahawks made the somewhat surprising decision to end the Pete Carroll era was they were getting run over by the 49ers the past couple seasons. More went into the decision than that, but being completely uncompetitive against their NFC West rival hung over the franchise. They lost five games, including playoffs, to the 49ers the past two seasons and none of them were competitive.
New Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald had many of the same problems on Thursday night.
The game started OK for the Seahawks. They drove deep into 49ers territory. But then Geno Smith missed badly on a throw that was picked off by safety Malik Mustapha. That was the first sign of distress.
The 49ers were backed up at their own 3-yard line after that interception, but they drove 90 yards. The 49ers settled for a field goal at the end of the drive — execution in the red zone was maybe the only thing San Francisco didn’t do well in the first half on Thursday — but the drive was all too familiar. The 49ers were pushing the Seahawks around, as usual.
The first half and the start of the second half went that way. Kittle’s first touchdown gave the 49ers a 23-3 lead early in the third quarter. But this 49ers team, which has already blown two fourth-quarter leads this season for losses, had to make things interesting again.
Seahawks get back in it
The 49ers’ offense was moving the ball easily, except in the red zone. The defense was all over the field and hitting everything in blue very hard. It was San Francisco’s special teams that let the Seahawks back in the game.
After the 49ers what looked like an insurmountable 23-3 lead, Laviska Shenault Jr. took a kickoff 97 yards for a touchdown. It was the second kickoff return for a touchdown in the NFL this season. Then Kenneth Walker III scored and the Seahawks trailed 23-17 before the third quarter was done. 49ers running back Jordan Mason suffered a shoulder injury in the first half and played just the first play of the second half, and that affected an offense that has been without Christian McCaffrey all season. San Francisco seemed to be in a bit of trouble.
Then Smith threw an interception that practically decided the outcome. It was woefully underthrown to DK Metcalf, Renardo Green picked it off and the 49ers were in position to put away the game.
Kittle scored again and the 49ers led 29-17. The Seahawks got a touchdown back and trailed 29-24 with less than two minutes left. They kicked off, having all three timeouts left. But Isaac Guerendo, who was filling in for Mason, who was filling in for McCaffrey, broke a 76-yard run. Kyle Juszczyk scored with 1:17 left to put the game away.
There was some worry about the 49ers, and having three losses early in the season isn’t great for their hopes of getting a No. 1 seed in the NFC. But Thursday night was more proof that they still own the Seahawks and the NFC West, even if there’s still some room for improvement.