49ers vs. Seahawks final score: Brock Purdy, 49ers break out in the 2nd half
The San Francisco 49ers absorbed the Seahawks’ best punch in the first half of their Wild Card Round game but took the game over from there to cruise into the Divisional Round.
Trailing by a point at halftime, which suddenly seems so unlikely as to be nearly unbelievable, the 49ers beat the Seahawks, 41-23 on Saturday. That makes 11 straight wins dating back to Oct. 30.
The 49ers now wait to see who they’ll face in the Divisional Round. Here’s a look at the possible opponents from earlier in the week.
Brock Purdy comes up huge for the 49ers in the Wild Card Round game
SF QB Brock Purdy looked like a rookie at times. And he looked absolutely incredible at others to yet again etch his name into NFL history.
He became the youngest QB with 2+ passing touchdowns and one rushing touchdown in a playoff game ever, per the broadcast on Fox.
Not content to end there, he kept going.
Purdy went 18 for 30 for 332 yards with three passing touchdowns. He ran three times for 17 yards and a touchdown.
Deebo Samuel came up big too. Very big. After returning from injury in Week 18, and getting his leg intentionally twisted after a tackle in the third quarter, Samuel racked up a 74-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter, including an amazing 66 yards after the catch.
That leg twist might have been a wake-up call for the 49ers. They trailed at the time but Purdy punched it in on a sneak four plays later to go up 23-17 and the 49ers scored the game’s next 25 points.
Samuel finished with 133 yards on six receptions.
Oh, and we haven’t even gotten to running back Christian McCaffrey. He rushed for 119 yards on 15 carries, averaging 7.9 per touch, helped by a 68 yard run in the first half.
All in all, the 49ers offense racked up a season-high 505 yards.
We could keep going. Suffice it to say, the offense was explosive while the defense bounced back from a few first-half issues to completely shut out the Seahawks down until the final two minutes when the game was far out of reach.
The first-half looked iffy for the 49ers
That sure looked better than the game’s first 30 minutes.
For much of the first quarter, the game played out according to script: the 49ers defense dominated, holding the Seahawks to just four yards of progress through two series. Meanwhile Purdy looked like a rookie, but also had a few big plays to put the 49ers up 10-0.
The 49ers scored each time they had the ball throughout the first half, but had to settle for three field goals.
A key moment came right before the end of the first half. After another field goal put San Francisco up 16-14, Shanahan called for a squib kick, giving some good field position to Seattle. Then a horrible decision by Jimmie Ward, hitting Smith late, put Seattle into field goal position in the closing seconds.
Jason Myers put it through the uprights from 56 yards to give Seattle a 17-16 lead at the half.
