The San Francisco 49ers are back in a familiar territory, facing the Seattle Seahawks just two weeks after seeing them in the regular season finale. Only this time, it’s at Lumen Field, as the 49ers will have yet another short week before traveling up north for the divisional round of the playoffs.
San Francisco is coming off an impressive 23-19 win over the Philadelphia Eagles as they found a way to rally and come back after being outplayed in the first half, despite losing George Kittle to a significant injury. Somehow, the 49ers found a way, clutching up on both sides of the ball to pull off the last-minute victory.
In the first half, the 49ers looked outmatched. While the halftime score was only 13-10, the Eagles offense had drives of 10, 7, and 16 plays to start the game, moving the ball well on the ground and eating up the clock. Offensively, the 49ers fell into a lull after their initial touchdown drive, and the defensive struggles magnified that.
However, after halftime, the 49ers flipped a switch defensively, allowing just two field goal drives as the defense bottled up Philadelphia’s offense, getting off the field quickly to provide chances at a comeback. Philadelphia’s first four drives had three very quick punts and a field goal drive despite starting in plus territory.
A big part of that was the change in run defense. After going for 95 yards on 20 rushes in the first half, Philadelphia was limited to 45 yards on 16 carries in the second half. The 49ers kept everything between the tackles and forced negative plays just as much as they allowed positive gains, and the Eagles couldn’t respond in second and third-and-long situations.
That has to be the formula for the 49ers in the divisional round. Looking back at Week 18, the 49ers defense was gashed because they could not stop the run in the first half. In fact, it felt like Sam Darnold’s mistakes were a big reason why the score was just 10-3 at halftime.
San Francisco ended up allowing 180 rushing yards on 4.6 yards per carry, as Seattle nearly got to the 40-rush mark. The score was only as close as it was because the Seahawks really struggled in the red zone, not scoring a touchdown on any of their three opportunities there.
The 49ers offense will have to play much better. They’re the catalyst of this team and the reason why they’ll go far or fall short, because the defense has been substandard for much of the season. But, mitigating the impact of the run game, especially against a team that has been inconsistent running the ball this season, will be absolutely crucial for the 49ers.
San Francisco showed they could do so with a great gameplan in the second half of the Eagles win. That now has to carry over to this weekend’s divisional matchup. That will force the game to be in Sam Darnold’s hands. Now, Darnold could very easily beat the 49ers with some big-time throws. He’s shown a propensity for that earlier in the year. But he’s also been inconsistent since a four-interception performance against the Rams, and the 49ers will take that matchup over struggling in the trenches.
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