By Cleavon Steele
The Seattle Seahawks relinquished their NFC West division lead after a disappointing loss to their division rivals, the San Francisco 49ers, 36-24 at Lumen Field on Thursday. It was the 6th consecutive defeat at the hands of the Niners and the 3rd consecutive loss for the Hawks this season.
Once again, the Seahawk’s inability to stop the run was their undoing. The 49ers rushed for a whopping 228 yards, including a 76-yard touchdown run by backup running back Isaac Guerendo to seal the game. Additionally, the Seahawks allowed 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy to throw for 255 yards and three touchdowns.
Seattle was unable to find an offensive balance as well. Running backs Kenneth Walker III and Zach Charbonnet combined for a mere 52 yards on 20 carries. Quarterback Geno Smith passed for 312 yards and a touchdown but was intercepted twice and looked out of sorts for most of the game.
The Seahawks did manage to provide a spark from its special teams with a 97-yard kickoff return for a touchdown from Laviska Shenault Jr. and briefly cut the lead to 29-24 late in the 3rd quarter, but the Niners put together an 81-yard touchdown drive to seal the game.
The Seahawks will have to do some soul-searching as they approach their mini-bye week before heading to Atlanta next Sunday to face a red-hot Falcons team that has won 4 of their last 5 games. Head coach Mike Macdonald understands the team is not playing well and has vowed to identify what changes need to be made.
“We’re just not doing the things that good football teams do to win football games, and so we’re going to attack it,” Macdonald said. “We’re going to take a breather here and really go back and dissect the heck out of this thing,”
The Seahawks defensive players also understand they need to play better and that they need to show a sense of urgency if they want to salvage hopes of making the playoffs this year.
“We have the right guys in the room to get the job done. We just really have to be real and accountable. As long as we do that, we should be ok,” Seahawks safety Rayshawn Jenkins said. “But it has to happen sooner than later.”
It’s not time to hit the panic button yet, but it is getting close. A win against the Falcons in Atlanta would go a long way to rebuilding the Seahawk’s confidence and helping them turn their season around.
