Grades for 49ers' season-ending blowout NFC Divisional Playoff loss to Seahawks

It did not take long for the Seattle Seahawks to establish their dominance over the 49ers on Saturday night.For the second time in three weeks, the Seahawks absolutely mauled the 49ers.With their victory over the 49ers in the final week of the regular season, the Seahawks earned home-field advantage in the NFC playoffs.Then, Seattle sent the 49ers home for good with their 41-6 victory in the NFC Divisional Playoff with a game that seemed to be over before it even began.Well, all it took was 13 seconds, to be exact.Here is the report card from the 49ers’ playoff loss to the Seahawks, who will play host to the winner of Sunday’s Los Angeles Rams-Chicago Bears game for the right to represent the NFC in Super Bowl 60 at Levi’s Stadium on Feb. 8:Rushing offenseThe 49ers could not run against the Seahawks in Week 1 or Week 18. And they sure as heck could not gain any consistent yards on Saturday night, as the Seattle defensive front suffocated San Francisco in the run game.Christian McCaffrey did not have any room to run, and he had to leave the game for a period of time with a shoulder stinger. He finished with just 35 yards rushing on 11 carries.The 49ers had a chance to answer the Seahawks’ opening-kickoff touchdown on the first drive of the game. But McCaffrey was stuffed on third-and-1. On fourth down, fullback Kyle Juszczyk took a sweep and had the option to pitch to McCaffrey, but it got snuffed out for a turnover on downs.Grade: DPassing offenseWe can agree that the Seahawks’ defense was just a lot better than the 49ers’ offense. Quarterback Brock Purdy could not get the ball down the field because either: A) He did not have time to throw; or B) The 49ers’ receivers simply could not get open.The 49ers had very little chance to get anything going. Their second drive ended when tight end Jake Tonges coughed up a fumble after an 11-yard pass reception.Purdy had an interception on a play in which Luke Farrell got muscled out of the way by Ernest Jones, who came up with the interception. Purdy completed 15 of 27 passes for 140 yards and an interception. Brock making some magic happen on third down pic.twitter.com/VQwnP1V6nv — 49ers on NBCS (&commat;NBCS49ers) January 18, 2026 Grade: DRushing defenseThe 49ers didn’t miss as many tackles as they did in Week 18 against the Seahawks. But this was not a good performance, by any stretch.Seattle just manhandled the 49ers up front. Kenneth Walker benefited from the 49ers’ lack of quality players in the front seven, as he rushed for 117 yards and three touchdowns on 19 carries.As a team, Seattle rushed for 175 yards.Grade: DPassing defenseThe 49ers did not come to play, and that was apparent with some breakdowns in coverage early in the game. Coach Kyle Shanahan was shown on the sideline having words with cornerback Renardo Green. A short time later, Darrell Luter, who entered the game for Green, was beaten on a nice pitch and catch from Sam Darnold to Jaxon Smith-Njigba.Darnold did not have to do much, but he definitely did his job to keep the Seahawks’ offense rolling. He completed 12 of 17 passes for 124 yards and a touchdown.The lone highlights for the defense were sacks from Malik Mustapha and CJ West.Grade: DSpecial teamsThere’s plenty of blame to go around, but it all started with special teams.The 49ers’ kick coverage unit enabled the Seahawks to grab the momentum right away when Rashid Shaheed blasted through a tackle attempt of Chase Lucas around the 40-yard line en route to a 95-yard kickoff return. He even evaded the tripping attempt of kicker Eddy Piñeiro along the way. That staked the Seahawks to a 7-0 lead just 13 seconds into the game.It was never really a contest after that.Grade: DCoachingSure, the Seahawks have the better roster. Of course.But this was bad. This was really bad.Seattle’s Mike Macdonald got the upper hand over Shanahan, and Seahawks offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak won the duel against Robert Saleh.It started badly and got worse. Shanahan was furious when the officials allowed Seattle to call a timeout just before the 49ers snapped the ball on a fourth-and-1 play on their first offensive drive of the game. Kyle Shanahan was LIVID after the refs granted the Seahawks a late timeout on this play pic.twitter.com/TMziCKwvj2 — 49ers on NBCS (&commat;NBCS49ers) January 18, 2026 Then, the 49ers came back with a fullback option play that fizzled when Kyle Juszczyk did not have a place to run or an opportunity to make a successful pitch to McCaffrey.Grade: DOverallThe 49ers had a really good season. But the way it ended was simply atrocious. They were not even competitive against their division rival after splitting the season series.The overall grade for this game is not at all reflective of the kind of season the 49ers played to get to this point.Grade: DDownload and follow the 49ers Talk Podcast

Grades for 49ers’ season-ending blowout NFC Divisional Playoff loss to Seahawks

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