The 49ers couldn’t have asked for a worse start.
With just under two minutes left in the first quarter, they found themselves in a 17-0 hole against a Seahawks team that came out swinging-and didn’t miss.
Seattle didn’t waste a second. On the opening kickoff, Rashid Shaheed took Eddy Pineiro’s boot 95 yards to the house.
That’s how you set the tone. Just 13 seconds in, the Seahawks had a 7-0 lead, and the 49ers were already on their heels.
San Francisco tried to answer quickly, but a gutsy call on fourth-and-1 at the Seattle 40 backfired. The original play was a pass, but a late Seahawks timeout gave them a second look.
When the play resumed, DeMarcus Lawrence blew it up, stopping Kyle Juszczyk for a 3-yard loss as the fullback tried to bounce it outside. That sequence not only stalled the drive-it shifted momentum even further toward Seattle.
The Seahawks capitalized. They marched 44 yards in 11 plays, chewing up clock and confidence, before Jason Myers drilled a 31-yard field goal to make it 10-0.
Methodical. Efficient.
In control.
Then came the turnover that really opened the floodgates.
The 49ers were starting to find a rhythm on their next possession. Brock Purdy hit tight end Jake Tonges for an 11-yard gain-but Ernest Jones had other plans. He punched the ball out, and Julian Love was there to scoop it up at the San Francisco 42.
Five plays later, Seattle made them pay. Sam Darnold, showing no signs of the oblique issue that had lingered earlier in the week, found Jaxon Smith-Njigba in the back of the end zone for a 4-yard touchdown. That made it 17-0, and the Seahawks were firmly in the driver’s seat.
Darnold, by the way, looked sharp. He opened the game 5-of-7 for 46 yards and a touchdown-efficient and composed, exactly what Seattle needed from him in this early statement.
For the 49ers, it’s not just the scoreboard that’s concerning-it’s how quickly things unraveled. A special teams breakdown, a failed fourth down, a turnover, and suddenly they’re staring at a three-score deficit before the first quarter is even in the books.
This isn’t the script San Francisco wanted. Now we’ll see if they can flip the page.