. . . Out like a lamb on a spit. Week 1 of the 2025 season saw a strong 49er team take on an equally strong Seattle team, and beat them on the road. Nick Bosa provided the defining play with a strip-sack to end the Seahawks late threat.
Week 18 was a different matter. A severely weakened 49er squad was beaten soundly on both sides of the ball to lay one of the bigger eggs of the past few years. Say what you will about the awful game, but our O line was shown to be completely ineffective. Losing Trent Williams was not good, but I’m not too sure how much diff that would have make. CMC had 8 carries for 23 yards. Brock Purdy was harassed on EVERY pass play but for one completion to Kittle on the ill-fated drive that ended with the pick on the goal line.
The defense? Fucking pathetic. Only Seattle’s ineptitude kept the 49ers in the game. Seattle out-gained the 49ers 361 to 173. They got a very balanced 181 in the air and 180 on the ground. 6/13 on 3rd down conversions led to Seattle out-TOP’-ing the 49ers 38:00 to 22:00.
Say what you will about Saleh, but his reluctance to bring pressure on 3rd downs is a fucking joke. Over and over Seattle converted their 3rd downs on their first 4 possessions. The play of the game very well could have been the 3rd and 17 run for 19 yards by Walker. I mean, they were GIVING UP THE BALL. We drop everyone deep to stop the pass and Walker gets past the 1st level for the 1st down.
So, we are on the road in bad weather in either Chicago or Philly. Do you like our chances?
Maybe I’ll get a little different perspective in a couple days, but this team looks doomed. Both Philly and Chicago are not very special, but we out-coached and beaten in the trenches by a country mile.
San Francisco 49ers Forever 
No I don’t like our chances with either one of those teams. I know we could beat em if everything goes right but that’s a big if. At least we are still playing and who knows.
Eagles it is. Bears get 2 seed
First things first.
12-5 and in the playoffs after going 6-11 last year.
Seattle are a very good team.
Niners D allowed a lot of yards but stiffened around the 30 yard line and into the redzone. They didn’t allow many points (13) and even if we gave back their 2 missed FG they were held under 20 points. That is a solid outcome regardless of how it looked at times. Bend but don’t break numerically worked and was enough for the Niners to win.
Niners O is another matter entirely. CMC was not a big factor in the RG at under 3 yds a carry. I believe Shanahan should have put him in the slot as a quick WR especially since they didn’t have Ricky. Jennings was pushed around and generally wasn’t allowed to get a running start before making a catch which is when he can be dangerous. Jennings from a standing start scares no one and throwing to him in the flat was dumb.
Kittle wasn’t targeted much and didn’t look fully healthy, I can’t for the life of me understand why Shanahan continues to leave Tonges on the bench when Kittle plays. The team really need a spark and a young, hungry talented pass catching TE just might have made a difference. 2 TE sets against a fierce pass rush has to be more effective than a plodding WR like Jennings or Bourne. Juice was also a non factor, used for chipping and that’s about it.