{"id":120111,"date":"2026-01-04T22:17:26","date_gmt":"2026-01-04T22:17:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/120111\/"},"modified":"2026-01-04T22:17:26","modified_gmt":"2026-01-04T22:17:26","slug":"all-the-ways-the-49ers-flaws-were-exposed-and-what-this-means-for-the-playoffs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/120111\/","title":{"rendered":"All the ways the 49ers\u2019 flaws were exposed, and what this means for the playoffs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Want more ways to catch up on the latest in Bay Area sports? Sign up for the Section 415 email newsletter here<\/a> and subscribe to the Section 415 podcast wherever you listen<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s one statistic that best illustrates how Seattle smothered the 49ers, 13-3, with so much on the line at Levi\u2019s Stadium on Saturday night: The Seahawks didn\u2019t run a single snap in base defense, yet they managed to stifle running back Christian McCaffrey to the tune of 23 yards on eight attempts.<\/p>\n

Yes, the Seahawks played with at least one extra defensive back instead of a bigger linebacker \u2014 in either their nickel or dime packages \u2013\u00a0on all 42 of the 49ers\u2019 offensive snaps. And the 49ers still were unable to run the football. That\u2019s how thoroughly Seattle\u2019s vaunted defensive line whipped the 49ers, which was without star left tackle Trent Williams, up front. <\/p>\n

The primary offshoot of that dominance was predictable: Seattle teed off with its pass rush, pressured 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy on nearly 40% of snaps, and generally blanketed receivers. The 49ers had few answers after receiver Ricky Pearsall was surprisingly ruled out with a knee injury before the game (remember that Pearsall\u2019s fourth-quarter deep reception had tilted the 49ers\u2019 Week 1 win at Seattle in their favor). <\/p>\n

McCaffrey then dropped the 49ers\u2019 best opportunity to claw back into the game. His bobble near the goal line turned into a Seattle interception and effectively shut the door on the 49ers\u2019 tenuous chances. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a play that I absolutely have to make,\u201d McCaffrey said. \u201cI expect nothing less but to make that play. It\u2019s completely on me.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 49ers, who had been tantalizingly close to securing an NFC West title and home-field advantage through the playoffs (with the Super Bowl coming to Levi\u2019s), will instead have to take to the road as a much lower seed. Their exact positioning and first postseason opponent will be determined by Sunday\u2019s games. <\/p>\n

\u201cI like the mindset of, \u2018Nothing has gone right for this team this year, so why would we have it any other way right now?\u2019\u201d 49ers fullback Kyle Juszczyk said in the locker room. \u201cLet\u2019s do it the hard way\u2019 has been the theme of the season, so let\u2019s just lean into that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Seattle certainly made life difficult for the 49ers, who knew that the absences of Williams and Pearsall would make a game against perhaps the NFL\u2019s top defense a truly uphill climb.<\/p>\n

1 day ago<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

4 days ago<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

Friday, Dec. 19<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

That\u2019s why 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan dug into his bag of aggressive tricks in the first half. The problem was that neither of them worked. A play-action shot on fourth-and-one turned into a dud when the 49ers\u2019 protection didn\u2019t hold up long enough for Purdy to find wide-open tight end George Kittle. A double-pitch circus play also turned into a relative dud when Seattle didn\u2019t bite on any of the eye candy the 49ers sold in the backfield. <\/p>\n

Smoke and mirrors failed \u2014\u00a0and the 49ers collectively followed suit shortly thereafter. While McCaffrey\u2019s drop near the goal line killed the team\u2019s most promising march, it also underscored the delicate tightrope that the 49ers had navigated this entire season \u2013\u00a0and especially over a six-game win streak entering Saturday\u2019s game.<\/p>\n

\"AThe Seattle defense limited Christian McCaffrey to just 23 rushing yards on eight carries on Saturday night. | Source: Amber Pietz\/The Standard<\/p>\n

The injury-decimated 49ers defense, ranked No. 24 entering Saturday\u2019s game, isn\u2019t good. The offense had been brilliant in its successful run of picking up the slack, but it also had been skating on thin ice \u2014\u00a0especially at a receiver position already down its most expensive piece, Brandon Aiyuk. The losses of Pearsall and Williams were the straws that broke the camel\u2019s back. They left Purdy, who completed 19-of-27 passes but at only 4.7 yards per attempt, with little time to throw and no consistent downfield separation to work with against the Seahawks. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s no coincidence that Kittle specifically mentioned potential returns from those two players as he philosophized about the 49ers\u2019 path moving forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe lost at home to a division rival for the division and the No. 1 seed,\u201d Kittle said. \u201cThat sucks. I\u2019m disappointed about it. It\u2019s horrible. The good news is I get to play football next week. … It\u2019s going to be on the road in a hostile environment. Would I much rather be on a bye and play at Levi\u2019s? Yeah, but that\u2019s just not the reality. … We have a whole new season ahead of us.<\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully, we get Trent back \u2014\u00a0that\u2019d be super helpful. Maybe Ricky, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shanahan said that, had the 49ers played on Sunday instead of Saturday on a short week, Williams and Pearsall would\u2019ve had much better chances to suit up.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were pushing it,\u201d he said. \u201cIt would\u2019ve been too risky to play them, though. They pushed it all the way up to the end, but it wouldn\u2019t have been the smartest decision by us to let them play.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though the path has grown far more treacherous, the 49ers\u2019 formula moving forward remains unchanged: They must still strive to deliver top-tier offense to mask a staggering defense. <\/p>\n

That unit certainly did have its moments against Seattle (holding the Seahawks to 13 points is an objectively good final result), but glaring reminders of why the 49ers\u2019 offense must be the locomotive to pull the train again reared their ugly heads.<\/p>\n

\"ASeahawks running back Zach Charbonnet had plenty of open lanes against an exhausted 49ers defense on Saturday. | Source: Amber Pietz\/The Standard<\/p>\n

The defense missed a bevy of tackles, drawing Shanahan\u2019s ire in a halftime television interview. It bled yardage on the ground, allowing both Seattle running backs to deliver inexcusable chunk plays. Zach Charbonnet blasted around the whole 49ers unit for a 27-yard touchdown run to open the scoring. Kenneth Walker III then delivered a demoralizing 20-yard run on third-and-17 in the second half, sending 49ers\u2019 general manager John Lynch \u2014 as seen in his suite by television cameras \u2014 into a fit of public exasperation. <\/p>\n

So while the 49ers can certainly build on positive performances from players such as nickelback Upton Stout, a rookie who can benefit greatly from high-stakes January football that the team is currently involved in, it\u2019s clear that they\u2019ll have to continue overcoming a defense that\u2019s been consistently shoddy for damaging stretches in recent weeks. <\/p>\n

The 49ers\u2019 offense, with its measly 173 yards and 22 minutes of possession, failed miserably in that mission to pick up the slack on Saturday. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s horrible,\u201d Kittle said. \u201cI hate losing to the Seahawks. But, hey, we get to play football next week. And regardless of what happens, go Cardinals.\u201d<\/p>\n

That was a shout-out to Arizona. The Cardinals visit the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday afternoon. If Arizona wins, the 49ers will be the NFC\u2019s No. 5 seed and they\u2019ll travel to either Carolina or Tampa Bay \u2014\u00a0two markedly worse opponents than the Philadelphia Eagles or Chicago Bears, whom the 49ers would be slated to visit as the No. 6 seed in the event of a Rams win. <\/p>\n

The playoff permutations will settle themselves by late Sunday afternoon. For now, the 49ers \u2014\u00a0with the concrete drying on a successful 12-5 regular season \u2014\u00a0must shake off Saturday\u2019s disappointment so that they can put fair energy into the path ahead. <\/p>\n

\u201cNow we\u2019ve got to do it the hard way,\u201d Shanahan said. \u201cAnd we\u2019ll embrace the s\u2014- out of doing the hard way and look forward to it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Want more ways to catch up on the latest in Bay Area sports? Sign up for the Section…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":120112,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[299,101,296,103,102,104,106,105,127],"class_list":{"0":"post-120111","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-francisco","8":"tag-kyle-shanahan","9":"tag-san-francisco","10":"tag-san-francisco-49ers","11":"tag-san-francisco-headlines","12":"tag-san-francisco-news","13":"tag-sf","14":"tag-sf-headlines","15":"tag-sf-news","16":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120111","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=120111"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120111\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/120112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=120111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=120111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}