Earlier this season, the SF 49ers stood a chance to score a lot of points against the Seahawks. But that won’t be the case in Week 17.
The SF 49ers were overwhelmed by the Seattle Seahawks defense when these two teams played last in Week 8, which was quite the shock considering Seattle’s defense was largely looked at as a laughingstock by most of the league over the first half of the season.
Only some garbage-time scores by the Niners made that eventual 37-27 outcome more interesting than the game actually was.
For much of the year, though, the Seahawks still struggled in preventing yards allowed. And the figures have carried over through their 11-4 season with Seattle ranking 25th in yards surrendered.
But it’s not necessarily the entire picture of work that should be a concern for head coach Kyle Shanahan and San Francisco’s offense.
No, it’s the recent defensive trends the Seahawks are setting.
Granted, the game is essentially meaningless for the SF 49ers aside from helping determine 2021 NFL Draft positioning and potentially hindering Seattle’s playoff seeding in the wake of its NFC West-clinching win over the LA Rams. Still, the Seahawks have seen their defense become far more stout in the second half of the season.
Seattle’s Week 9 loss at the hands of the Buffalo Bills, who scored 44 points to the Seahawks’ 33, was an embarrassment. Since then, though, the Seahawks defense has clamped down on opponents:
| Scor | Scor | Defe | Defe | Defe | Defe | Defe | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Week | Day | Date | Rec | Opp | Tm | Opp | 1stD | TotYd | PassY | RushY | TO | ||
| 9 | Sun | November 8 | L | 6-2 | @ | Buffalo Bills | 34 | 44 | 27 | 420 | 386 | 34 | |
| 10 | Sun | November 15 | L | 6-3 | @ | Los Angeles Rams | 16 | 23 | 24 | 389 | 283 | 106 | 1 |
| 11 | Thu | November 19 | W | 7-3 | Arizona Cardinals | 28 | 21 | 24 | 314 | 257 | 57 | ||
| 12 | Mon | November 30 | W | 8-3 | @ | Philadelphia Eagles | 23 | 17 | 18 | 250 | 180 | 70 | 1 |
| 13 | Sun | December 6 | L | 8-4 | New York Giants | 12 | 17 | 13 | 290 | 100 | 190 | 1 | |
| 14 | Sun | December 13 | W | 9-4 | New York Jets | 40 | 3 | 12 | 185 | 116 | 69 | 1 | |
| 15 | Sun | December 20 | W | 10-4 | @ | Washington Football Team | 20 | 15 | 26 | 353 | 269 | 84 | 2 |
| 16 | Sun | December 27 | W | 11-4 | Los Angeles Rams | 20 | 9 | 20 | 292 | 216 | 118 | 1 |
Provided by Pro-Football-Reference.com
Generated 12/27/2020.
As shown in the table above, Seattle is riding a five-game streak where the defense has allowed less than 20 points, and the two games prior netted a combined 44 points total. And the vaunted yardage totals, which dogged the Seahawks for much of the year, have also dropped to an average of 274.0 yards per game over their last five contests.
True, Seattle playing three of those five games against the lowly NFC East helped, as did its Week 14 bout against the lowly NY Jets.
But one has to figure the SF 49ers aren’t exactly lighting up the scoreboard this season, scoring over 30 points just once in the last eight games (33 in the Week 15 loss to the Dallas Cowboys).
If there is hope, though, Shanahan’s offense has effectively moved the ball as of late despite key injuries at running back, wide receiver, tight end and quarterback. Over their last five games, the Niners have averaged 389.4 yards of offense per game.
Yet it’ll probably take yet another solid-if-pedestrian performance from No. 3 quarterback C.J. Beathard, who managed to do enough against a solid Cardinals pass rush in Week 16’s win over the Arizona Cardinals where he tossed three touchdowns and had a passer rating of 125.4.
For those thinking Seattle could play soft after having already clinched the NFC West, think again.
Currently holding the No. 3 seed in the NFC playoff picture, climbing to the No. 2 spot is still in play with the New Orleans Saints (11-4) boasting the same record as the Seahawks and ahead in the standings because of division record. New Orleans plays the early game in Week 17, so perhaps that factors into the equation.
But considering the NFC West rivalry, it doesn’t seem likely Seattle would want to let San Francisco’s offense finish 2020 on a high note.