SEATTLE — Sam Darnold’s oblique injury became the biggest storyline heading into Seattle’s divisional round matchup with the San Francisco 49ers on Saturday, giving the Seahawks and their fans a scare after the Pro Bowl quarterback left practice two days earlier.
It quickly became an afterthought.
Rashid Shaheed returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown, jump-starting an all-three-phases beatdown by the Seahawks in a 41-6 win over their division rivals at Lumen Field. They raced to a 17-0 lead and never looked back as their top-ranked scoring defense dominated San Francisco for the second game in a row while Kenneth Walker III and their emerging run game led the way offensively.
And Darnold looked just fine.
“That’s probably the most complementary game we’ve played up to this point,” said coach Mike Macdonald, whose team will host either the Chicago Bears or Los Angeles Rams next Sunday in the NFC Championship Game.
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The Seahawks handed the 49ers their most lopsided loss of the Kyle Shanahan era, which began in 2017. For Macdonald, who replaced Pete Carroll in 2024, it was the third-largest win by a head coach in his playoff debut in NFL history, according to ESPN Research.
It came in front of a raucous crowd, as the Seahawks hosted their first playoff game with fans in the stands in nine years. Lumen Field was already buzzing when Shaheed sent it into a frenzy by returning the opening kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown.
“Really good team win from the first snap,” said Darnold, who secured the first playoff victory of his eight-year career. “The kickoff, [Shaheed] taking it to the house, that was special. To hear that stadium, too, rocking the way it was tonight, unbelievable, man. The 12s came out. It was fun. Our defense doing their thing. And as an offense, too, the ball control, I feel like that was huge for us all game and finishing in the red zone.”
When asked about his level of pain, Darnold said simply, “I felt great. Felt great.”
Darnold’s injury occurred while he was throwing during a routes-on-air period early Thursday. He left practice to receive treatment after he “felt a little something” in his left side, saying it didn’t make sense to push through it.
Darnold and Macdonald expressed confidence that he would play despite his questionable designation, though the coach acknowledged the possibility that his quarterback might be limited.
Darnold’s decision not to come onto the field for pregame warmups added to the intrigue. He said he instead threw in the locker room to avoid having to essentially warm up twice.
Once the game started, he didn’t appear to be impacted by the injury, moving well and throwing with his usual zip. His lone touchdown pass came on a first-quarter play in which he rolled to his left and delivered a strike in the end zone to Jaxon Smith-Njigba.
“I felt good, and if I did get hurt, I feel like you all would have probably known about it,” he said. “So no, I felt really good the entire game. And any hits I did take I didn’t feel it on that side.”
Darnold finished 12-of-17 for 124 yards and no turnovers before Drew Lock replaced him with nine minutes left. He secured another $500,000 in incentives with the win.
“Tremendous,” Macdonald said of his quarterback’s performance. “There was a couple of plays early that I think [it took him] to get in the swing of things. But I say ‘manage’ the game as a very high-powered compliment. Just throwing it on time, taking care of the ball, making the plays when we need to. I think there’s going to be some explosives out there that maybe we could get to. But shoot, I thought there’s a lot of operation stuff that he did that really helped us as well.”
Darnold said the injury is “absolutely” something he’ll have to continue to manage for the remainder of the playoffs.
With how well Seattle’s defense is playing, its run could go all the way back to Levi’s Stadium for Super Bowl LX.
When the Seahawks played San Francisco in that building in Week 18, they held what was the NFL’s hottest offense at the time to a field goal. They were equally dominant in the playoff rematch, as Macdonald’s unit forced three takeaways as well as three more turnovers on downs, making it eight straight quarters in which they’ve kept Purdy and 49ers out of the end zone.
Linebacker Ernest Jones IV, who made second-team All-Pro, was responsible for two of the takeaways — a forced fumble in the first quarter and an interception of Purdy in the third. He dealt with an illness earlier in the week and, as Macdonald put it, “was not in a good spot” on Wednesday.
“So for him to kind of get up to speed, get ready to play, the guys follow his lead,” Macdonald said. “Two tremendous plays to really change the course of the game with those takeaways.”
The Seahawks pressured Purdy on 19 of his 33 dropbacks (58%). According to ESPN Research, that was the second-highest pressure rate and the most pressures Purdy has faced in a game in his career. He completed 6 of 14 attempts for 74 yards, an interception, two sacks and a lost fumble when pressured.
Darnold, on the other hand, didn’t turn the ball over after leading all players with 20 giveaways in the regular season. He didn’t have to force the issue with how well his defense and run game are playing.
After struggling to mount a consistent rushing attack for much of the regular season, that part of Klint Kubiak’s offense is now rolling. Seattle has rushed for at least 160 yards in four straight games, including 175 Saturday.
Walker ran for 116 yards on 19 attempts, leading the way as Zach Charbonnet missed the second half with a knee injury. All three of his touchdowns, and 110 of Seattle’s rushing yards, came outside the tackles.
“It’s everybody,” Macdonald said of Seattle’s run game. “Our coaches deserve a ton of credit. K9 obviously had a great game. A lot of it is coming on wide zone. That’s something that we’ve been having to work all year and that’s where we hang our hat on, so it’s great to see it come to life.”
Macdonald said he’s “optimistic” with Charbonnet, adding: “We’ve got to get it imaged and stuff, but early indications are hopefully it’s OK structurally.”
Left tackle Charles Cross also suffered a foot injury in the third quarter. Macdonald said they pulled him “out of caution” with the victory in hand, adding: “But still we’re going to have to work through it with his foot, so I don’t have an indication on what that’s going to look like.”
Despite those injuries and Darnold’s, the Seahawks matched their 43-8 win in Super Bowl XLVIII for the club’s largest margin of victory in a playoff game. One more home win next week will give them a chance to claim the franchise’s second Lombardi Trophy.
“It was a heck of a win, man,” Macdonald said. “In the locker room, we’re really excited, we’re very proud of the effort, and the guys understand that there’s still a mission at hand. We’ve got another week coming up here that we need to take care of business every day, and that’s the focus. Proud of the group. We’ll celebrate today, guys will be off tomorrow and be back on Monday.”
