The 49ers knocked off the Seahawks 21-13 on Thursday Night Football to clinch their first NFC West title since 2019.
It was a mostly dominant showing for San Francisco’s seventh-consecutive victory. It’s hard to believe this is the same team that in Week 7 was throttled at home by the Kansas City Chiefs. Alas, it is, and Thursday’s win came with a handful of big-picture takeaways:
NFC West Champions
The 49ers can at worst finish with the same record as the Seahawks (though that seems unlikely considering the direction of the two clubs after Week 15). San Francisco with their sweep of Seattle owns the head-to-head tiebreaker though, so even if they finish with the same record, the 49ers would take home the division crown. Thus, they clinched the NFC West on Thursday and due to their head-to-head tiebreaker with the Buccaneers, also clinched no worse than the No. 3 seed in the playoffs.
Brock Purdy passes another test
Purdy just keeps checking boxes. He looked good in relief in Week 13, then looked good in his first start at home in Week 14. This time he was on a short week, while dealing with injuries, on the road and in a building the 49ers have had a hard time winning in over the last decade. He answered the call with another strong game where he went 17-of-26 for 217 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions. He made a couple mistakes, but he also helped seal the game with a scramble on third-and-1 late in the fourth quarter to extend a drive and not allow the Seahawks to get the ball again. Purdy keeps showing he has what it takes to win behind this 49ers defense and run game.
Defense coming together
The 49ers’ defense is playing so well in all three levels. They sacked Seahawks QB Geno Smith three times and hit him nine times. He was under duress virtually every time he dropped back. That strong effort from the DL starts in the secondary with their DBs taking throws away, but it’s also in the second level with their linebackers taking away the easy throws in the middle of the field. This defense is going to be really difficult to score on, and the better they are, the wider the margin of error is for Purdy.
No Deebo, no problem
The 49ers will need Deebo Samuel if they’re going to make a run in the playoffs. They can stay afloat without him for a stretch though thanks to Christian McCaffrey. San Francisco leaned heavily on their star RB Thursday night by giving him 26 carries and eight targets in the passing game. He was excellent once again, along with George Kittle who racked up 93 yards and two touchdowns on four catches. Adding McCaffrey is why the 49ers can sustain their offense without Samuel, and there was perhaps no greater illustration of that than what we saw Thursday.
