In what is just about a must-win to keep realistic playoff hopes alive, the Seattle Seahawks will try to do something Sunday they haven’t since Geno Smith took over as the team’s quarterback in 2022: beat the San Francisco 49ers.Â
Kickoff is 1:05 p.m. at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara.
One of Russell Wilson’s last great moments as a Seahawk came when he led Seattle to a 30-23 win over the 3.5-point favorite 49ers at Lumen Field on Dec. 5, 2021, throwing a game-winning 12-yard TD pass to Tyler Lockett with 2:12 left.
Wilson was traded to Denver the following March, and since then, the 49ers have won five straight regular-season games against Seattle and another in a wild-card playoff game following the 2022 season.
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All have come by at least eight points, including a 36-24 win by the 49ers at Lumen Field on Oct. 10.
Smith started five of those six games; Drew Lock started a 28-16 road loss to the 49ers last December.
In the four regular-season losses he’s played against the 49ers, Smith has thrown just two touchdown passes — one coming last month — against four interceptions while being sacked 12 times.
Smith threw two interceptions in the loss last month, after which he appeared as frustrated as he’s been during his two-plus years as Seattle’s starter.
His frustration level that night might only have been topped by how he felt after Seattle’s most recent game, a 26-20 overtime loss to the Rams on Nov. 3 in which Smith threw three interceptions — his most as a Seahawk — one of which was returned 102 yards for a TD and proved a turning point for Los Angeles. Afterward, Smith apologized to teammates, fans, the organization and the city of Seattle.
Smith didn’t bother trying to downplay the importance of beating the 49ers when he met the media this week.
Not only does he want to get his first win against the 49ers as Seattle’s starter, but he also knows it’s a game Seattle has to win if it wants to keep alive hope of winning the NFC West.
Seattle is tied at 4-5 with the Rams behind the 6-4 Cardinals and 5-4 49ers.
“Yeah, it’s very personal, man,” Smith said. “I think when you think about division opponents, these games matter the most, especially with the 49ers. They’ve been at the top of our division, one of the best teams in the league for a while, and if we want to be that type of team that we say we are, we’ve got to go through teams like this and I have no doubt in my mind the type of guys that we have, the type of preparation we’re going to put in and really the way that we’re going to step on that field. I know that I’m going to step on it with that chip on my shoulder, that edge that I always have and I know my guys are, as well.”Â
Seattle certainly has reasons to be edgy.
The Seahawks have lost five of their past six to fall into last in the NFC West.
And when they returned to work this week, players found out on Monday that leading tackler Tyrel Dodson had been released, becoming the latest victim of the team’s efforts to improve a struggling defense, and then learned a few days later that center Connor Williams had decided to retire.
Several players said this week that the Dodson news reinforced that the NFL “is a business” while insisting they understood the message being sent.
“Everyone around here is working extremely hard to get this thing turned in the right direction,” Smith said. “We’re right in the thick of the playoff hunt. We’ve got eight games to go and determine what our season’s going to be.”
Macdonald said he felt the players responded as he hoped they would.
“This is the NFL,” Macdonald said Friday after announcing Williams had retired. “That’s part of the messaging, too, when things happen. It’s like, ‘Hey, this is kind of more the norm than not. These things are going to kind of move and shake. And there’s going to be storylines, which is good. It means people are interested in what we’re doing and all that sort of stuff.’
“But our guys know this is noise, man. We’ve got to ignore the noise, stay forward, let’s rock and roll. Let’s focus on what we can control which is having a great week of practice, our attitudes every day, and they’ve done that, to their credit.”
Macdonald also took heart in how the defense played against the Rams, holding LA to just 68 yards rushing on 24 carries and forcing seven punts, five on three-and-outs. Seattle, in fact, leads the NFL in forcing three-and-outs with 31.Â
The Seahawks also hope having Ernest Jones IV now entrenched at middle linebacker in place of Dodson and an overall healthier team (rookie defensive lineman Byron Murphy II and cornerback Riq Woolen didn’t play in the first loss to the 49ers but are back now) will lead to an improved defensive performance against the 49ers.
There’s also the hope that an offense that ranks ninth in yards per game (359.4) but just 15th in points scored (23.3) can limit mistakes to increase efficiency. Seattle is second in the NFL in penalties, which has led to the Seahawks often facing second- and third-and-longs. As reported this week by The Athletic, the Seahawks are averaging 8.9 yards to gain on third down, the highest number in the NFL.
Certainly, Seattle will have to give its best shot to beat a 49ers team that, despite some early struggles, is still regarded as a favorite to advance to the Super Bowl for the second straight year.
Smith this week, though, insisted his confidence — and by extension, that of the rest of the team — hasn’t wavered.
“Yeah, I think we can beat anybody,” Smith said. “I think we’ve got the guys in this locker room, we got the coaches, we’ve got the right mindset, we’ve got the right work ethic.
“I think we have to be a little bit smarter, and definitely be smarter in the situational area. And then also, I think we’ve got to stop shooting ourselves in the foot, stop putting ourselves in backed-up situations early on. It’s going to be tough in this league playing in third-and-longs. I mean the percentage rate (converting) is not high. So the more we can put ourselves in those manageable situations, the better we are.”
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