SEATTLE — They were just one player away, after all. One tall, wry, tough-as-hell 33-year-old player. One great player at the very top of his game.
One Seahawks-killing player.
Just add Mike Evans to the 49ers’ established culture and talent-filled roster … and watch him help lift this thing into the stratosphere.
OK, maybe it isn’t exactly as simple as that, because there were so many essential parts to the 49ers’ chaotic, emotional, sloppy, heart-stopping, and potential season-defining 32-29 victory over the Seahawks at Lumen Field on Sunday.
But if there was one thing that separated the 49ers from the Seahawks on this day — and last year’s 49ers team from this one — it had to be Evans’ series of contested receptions, especially his stunning four-catch burst on the long drive that put the 49ers ahead, 29-26, when anything else probably would’ve led to a Seahawks victory.
And to top it off, Evans also scored the two-point conversion after Purdy threw a TD pass to Brandin Cooks. While taking hits to his battered ribs the whole time.
“Just a walking aura,” Fred Warner said, breaking out in a smile and a chuckle when he was asked about Evans. “I can’t help it; I’m on the sideline watching him doing crazy stuff, like, ‘We’ve got Mike Evans! I can’t believe it.’
“He’s unreal. He really doesn’t say anything. He just works. Then on Sunday shows up and just dominates.”
Yes, the 49ers could’ve used this in their last two meetings against Seattle — a dreary 13-3 loss to close the regular season at Levi’s Stadium then the 41-6 obliteration in the divisional round back up here.
The theme of those games: The 49ers didn’t score a touchdown in either of those games, their receivers couldn’t get open or snare catches in traffic, and Brock Purdy was completely swarmed over trying to manufacture plays.
The theme of Sunday: In every huge moment, Purdy just threw it toward No. 5. And Evans, who ended up with 7 catches for 113 yards and a touchdown, almost always came down with it. (Also, Kyle Shanahan designed plays to get Evans lined up in man-to-man defense, mainly with Seattle cornerback Josh Jobe gamely but unsuccessfully doing everything possible to keep the ball away from him.)
“I do feel like I’m one of the best receivers in the game,” Evans said. “And hurt or not, I’m out there. And everybody’s playing through injuries. And I’ve got a big frame. So if you throw it around me, I’ll do my best to make those contested grabs.”
The 49ers did not sign Evans last March only to beat the defending-champion Seahawks, of course. They got him to be the featured outside “X” receiver they haven’t had since Brandon Aiyuk’s best seasons. (And Aiyuk wasn’t this good even when he wanted to be on the 49ers.)
They got Evans to beat everybody. To be the ultimate go-to guy — to go high up in the air, where no defensive back can follow, and produce first downs and touchdowns and everything else in every game.
“I wanted to come here for moments like this, obviously,” Evans said. “But [also] just to be an asset to this team no matter who we’re playing.”
This victory doesn’t guarantee the 49ers anything. They also beat the Seahawks here to open last season, which didn’t mean much when they were watching the Seahawks celebrate the Super Bowl title in the 49ers’ locker room at Levi’s last February.
Evans catches a 2-point conversion throw from quarterback Brock Purdy to cap off a 12-play, 74-yard touchdown drive. | Source: Sean Fan/The Standard
But however the seedings go in January, the 49ers know all too well that they have to be better than the Seahawks to be the NFL’s best team. They have to feel it and know it. And now the 49ers are 5-0, with victories over both the Rams and Seahawks.
Of course, they could’ve lost this one in a hundred different ways. At times, the 49ers’ offense looked just as overwhelmed against the amazing Seattle defense as Seattle’s offense looked against the 49ers’ young defense. There were seven combined turnovers. They were moments of panic for both teams. The whole thing was nerve-wracking.
3 days ago
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But that’s what a big game is supposed to feel like. You have tough it out. You have to be tougher than the other team. And the toughest team on this day won the game.
It wasn’t just that these two very good teams were feeling every bit of the pressure and atmosphere of a playoff game.
Afterward, it felt like the 49ers had won a playoff game. And not a medium-sized one.
“I think we’ve got a bunch of warriors,” Shanahan said. “Everyone knows the talent of the stars and some of the guys on our team, but just what makes our guys special is how much they love football, how much they give it up every week. I never really have to get our guys going and ask them to work hard. It means as much to them as anyone I’ve been around.
“They’re not looking for stats, they’re not looking for praise. Those guys just wanna win and they wanted to win today big. And they deserved it.”
But back to Evans and that clutch drive, which began right after the Seahawks kicked a field goal to take a 26-21 lead late in the third quarter.
Evans looks into the crowd after scoring his first-quarter touchdown on Sunday. | Source: Sean Fan/The Standard
Early on, the 49ers faced first-and-20 after an offensive pass-interference call on Cooks, but Purdy immediately hit Evans for 15 yards to make it manageable. Later, Evans picked up a first down on a 9-yard gain. Then, on third-and-10 from near midfield, Purdy found a leaping Evans for 23 yards. The standout among standouts: A deep back-shoulder pass down the sideline for 28 yards down to the Seahawk 9-yard line on second-and-21.
So Brock, was it just time to get it to Evans and keep getting it to him?
“I think the way Kyle called the drive there sort of would answer your question on that,” Purdy said, going for subtlety.
Evans has won even more respect from the locker room for playing through the rib (or maybe a few ribs, but Evans won’t say) injury he suffered in the Week 3 victory over Arizona. With Ricky Pearsall lost for the season, De’Zhaun Stribling out for a few more weeks, Deebo Samuel exiting midway through this game with a hamstring issue, and George Kittle battling an illness, I’m not sure what the 49ers would’ve done if Evans wasn’t out there.
I know what they would’ve done: They would’ve lost, like they lost those past two games to the Seahawks. But Evans was out there. In some pain every time he got hit. Which meant he was making plays.
“It’s really cool to get new guys who come in and they just continue to up the standard that the Niners have built for so long,” Christian McCaffrey said.
That’s a big statement from a player who rarely gushes about anything.
But this might communicate even more: When McCaffrey walked to the podium immediately following Evans, he glanced at Evans, shook his head dramatically and said one sentence.
“That guy is unbelievable.”
Mike Evans is a difference maker generally; very specifically, he’s what the 49ers are all beginning to sense and enunciate: On Sunday and maybe for a lot more games, he was the difference between beating the Seahawks and not beating them. And the value of that in this division and this league is just about everything.