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The road to Super Bowl LX is paved with Yellow Bricks and will go through the Emerald City of Seattle! On Saturday night, the Seattle Seahawks defeated the San Francisco 49ers on the road by a score of 13-3 in what was arguably their biggest regular season game in franchise history. Seattle won their 14th game (most in a regular season ever) to claim the NFC West and the No. 1 seed in the NFC, denying the 49ers homefield advantage to and through the Super Bowl.
What a way to close out the 50th regular season!
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The Seahawks started the game with a purpose, marching all the way to San Francisco's goal line on their opening drive. Sadly, a sack, then eventually a turnover on downs denied Seattle points. But no matter! Their defense quickly forced a three-and-out, giving Sam Darnold and Co. the ball back. Three plays later, Zach Charbonnet barreled in from 27-yards to give the Seahawks a 7-0 lead. Turns out, that's all they would need.
San Francisco had absolutely no answers for Mike Macdonald's defense, and were held to a whopping 69 total yards of offense in the first half. The Niners did manage to get within field goal range for their lone score of the evening, which was their entire scoring output in one of their biggest games in recent memory.
Seattle and San Francisco exchanged punts in the third quarter, with the Seahawks holding firm with their 10-3 lead from halftime, but the good guys managed to get a little more breathing room to begin the fourth quarter with another Jason Myers field goal. However, the drive would not have been were it not for this incredible run from Kenneth Walker III on third-and-17.
Walker rushed for 97 yards on Saturday night, which helped him eclipse 1,000+ for the second time in his career!
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Things felt well in Seattle's hands for most of the night, but the Niners did attempt to make it more uncomfortable for the 12th Man watching nervously. After the Seahawks' field goal, San Francisco engineered their best drive of the night, swiftly moving 64 yards in only seven plays. Brock Purdy got his team to Seattle's six-yard line, but a tipped pass landed awkwardly in running back Christian McCaffrey's arms and actually fell out, only to be caught by Drake Thomas. This put an end to San Francisco's late comeback.
Seattle milked plenty of clock on their 16-play, 94 yard drive. Unfortunately, it ended with an unusual Jason Myers doink off the upright, keeping the score at 13-3. But with 2:20 left to play and no timeouts for the Niners, the clock was about to strike midnight. Four plays later and another turnover on downs, and it did.
The Seahawks earned revenge from the 2019 regular season finale, when the 49ers won the No. 1 seed and the NFC West crown at Lumen Field with a 26-21 victory. Additionally, quarterback Sam Darnold found redemption. At this point last year, Darnold had an infamous meltdown when his 14-win Vikings were blown out by the Detroit Lions on the road to lose their shot at a division crown and homefield advantage. Now, with the exact same scenario, Darnold helped see his team through to their shot at the Super Bowl. Darnold played well, completing 20-of-26 passes for 198 yards. He earned a $500k bonus for yardage on the year, and became only the third Seahawk in franchise history to throw for 4,000+ yards in a single season.
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Now the Seahawks return to the Pacific Northwest, where they won't have to travel again... unless it's back to Santa Clara for Super Bowl LX.
This article originally appeared on Seahawks Wire: Seahawks vs 49ers: Seattle wins NFC West and No. 1 seed in playoffs
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