DK Metcalf and the Seahawks run away from the 49ers 37-27

The San Francisco 49ers defense got off to a strong start as the secondary made a couple of plays on the first drive in the backfield to force a Seattle Seahawks punt. The Niners started to drive, but a miss from Jimmy Garoppolo to George Kittle—who should have caught that pass—resulted in Kyle Shanahan calling a bizarre wildcat play on third down. The Niners pinned the Seahawks on the one-yard line, though.

After another strong drive by the defense, the Niners started their second drive in Seattle territory. San Francisco received a gift after JaMycal Hasty fumbled, but the Seahawks defender was out of bounds when he recovered the ball. That didn’t matter much, as Garoppolo threw an interception to Kittle on the next play. He had Kendrick Bourne wide open on the play but stared down Kittle, and D.J. Reed jumped in front of the pass.

The Seahawks took the ball and drove down the field. DK Metcalf outran the Niners defense en route to a 46-yard touchdown. Seattle missed the extra point, and that made the score 6-0. The offense made it into the Seahawks territory for the third drive in a row, and it came down to a 4th & 1 decision, in which Shanahan wisely elected to go for it. Hasty picked up four yards and a first down. Hasty capped the drive off with some hard running, and a one-yard touchdown gave the 49ers a 7-6 lead.

The Seahawks answered. Well, DK Metcalf answered. He scored another touchdown. With just over three minutes to play in the second quarter, Metcalf had caught all six of his passes for 102 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Moseley was flagged for a holding on the pass, but that didn’t matter. To be fair to him, Moseley was in great coverage. We talked about the 49ers making plays on the ball, which didn’t happen during the first half.

The score was 13-7 Seahawks at the half. The 49ers did not play well and squandered too many opportunities. The offense started with the ball to open the second half, but got sacked on third down. Seattle scored on their next possession after failing to get pressure on Russell Wilson all game. Azeez Al-Shaair let DeeJay Dallas run right by him near the goal line. If that wasn’t bad enough, Dante Pettis fumbled the following kickoff. You can’t give Seattle this many chances. The score off that turnover made it 27-7.

There was a scare when Fred Warner went down with an injury, but he returned to the game. Jimmy G limped off the field after a third-down sack. Nick Mullens started to warm up and entered the game on the next possession. Because we can’t have nice things, Kittle left the game to the locker room as well. Jerick McKinnon scored from a yard out to make it 30-14. The 49ers forced a Seahawks punt on the next drive. It was only a two-possession game.

Mullens hit Aiyuk for a gain of 33 yards to put the 49ers in scoring position. It didn’t take the Niners long to move the ball. The offense scored within two minutes as Mullens found Ross Dwelley for a touchdown, but McKinnon’s two-point conversion was overturned. That made the score 30-20 with just over four minutes to play. The defense had a chance to stop Seattle’s offense, but that hadn’t happened all game, and it wasn’t going to happen on their final drive. Seattle scored to make it 37-20.

Mullens found Aiyuk in the end zone for a garbage-time touchdown to make it 37-27. It was too little, too late, though. The offense stalled too often when they needed to convert. Mistakes cost the team, and not having an answer for Metcalf was the difference in this game. The 49ers have a quick turnaround as they play in 96 hours.