SANTA CLARA, Calif. — The Seahawks walked into Levi’s Stadium on Saturday afternoon hoping it would be the first of two times they will play here over the next five weeks.
They spent the next three hours showing just why they might indeed be back for the Super Bowl on Feb. 8 with a surprisingly dominating 13-3 victory over the 49ers in a showdown for the NFC West title and the No. 1 seed in the conference that would have been even more decisive if not for a few self-inflicted errors.
While they were happy afterward to put on NFC West Division champion hats, smoke some cigars brought by center Jalen Sundell and enjoy the moment, they did so with an eye on the future, as well.
They know that if they win two more home games they will be right back here to try to win it all.
“Overall the job is not done, Seahawks veteran Leonard Williams said. “And that’s another thing I love about this team. People are celebrating, but in the middle of the celebration you are hearing people say we’ve got more work to do. We’ve got to move on to the next one and not having that complacency is really special."
Still, the list of accomplishments for this team is already long.
With the victory, the Seahawks clinched their first division title since 2020 and the top seed in the NFC playoffs for the first time since 2014 while getting their 14th victory of the season against three defeats, a franchise record for wins in a season in just the second year in Seattle for coach Mike Macdonald.
During a news conference after the game in which his players could be heard celebrating next door, Macdonald deflected the credit back to his team.
“You can hear them in there," he said. “They love each other man. It’s so much fun to go to work every day and coach this team."
Macdonald was hired following the 2023 season to replace Pete Carroll because of the defensive acumen he’d displayed during a meteoric decadelong rise as an assistant coach.
And he proved he just might be the best defensive mind in the NFL today, putting together a scheme that held a San Francisco offense that had averaged 42.3 points, 455.3 yards and 29.3 first downs the past three games to just three points, 173 yards and nine first downs.
“The defense played lights out," receiver Cooper Kupp said. “Absolutely lights out."
The Seahawks had a 263-105 edge in yards at the end of the third quarter at which point they had given up just 244 yards in their previous seven quarters before the 49ers unleashed their one decent drive of the night, trailing 13-3 early in the fourth quarter.
Even that ended in Seahawks defensive supremacy when a pass tipped by Boye Mafe went in and out of the hands of star 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey and into those of Seahawks linebacker Drake Thomas for an interception at the 3-yard line with 10:21 remaining.
“Honestly, he probably beats me to the corner," Thomas said. “But I think Mafe might have gotten a piece of the ball. He said he did. And kind of changed the direction of it. It hit off his back shoulder and bounced right into my hands."
McCaffrey took the blame later, saying “I absolutely have to make that play. … it’s completely on me."
A Seahawks offense that was far from perfect, but avoided turnovers for only the fourth time all season, uncorked an 89-yard, 16-play drive that took 8:01 off the clock.
The drive ended in a missed Jason Myers field goal, but the real damage had been done in using up most of the clock.
“They controlled the ball," said 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan of the Seahawks, who had the ball for 37:48 and ran 67 plays to the 49ers’ 42. “Kept it from us."
It was a drive that might finally dispel any worries about Sam Darnold’s ability to win the big one as he completed 4 of 5 passes on the drive for 48 yards, twice completing passes on third downs to keep the drive alive, the most critical a 24-yard completion to Kupp on a third-and-10 that moved it to the 49ers’ 12.
Darnold echoed the theme that this game is hopefully just a beginning.
“We’re going to celebrate this one but we know that we have a lot of work to do," he said.
The Seahawks have clinched the top seed heading into the playoffs four times. Each of the other three times — 2005, 2013 and 2014 — they advanced to the Super Bowl.
Getting the top seed means the Seahawks will get a bye in the wild-card round of the playoffs and a home game in the divisional round the weekend of Jan. 17-18 — their first home playoff game in nine years.
That game will come against the lowest-remaining seed from the wild-card round and could mean a rematch against the 49ers or Los Angeles Rams.
Win that, and the Seahawks would be the host for NFC title game Jan. 25 with a chance to get to the Super Bowl for the fourth time in franchise history.
“It’s huge," Kupp said of getting home-field advantage. “And I can’t tell you how pumped I am to see the atmosphere and what the 12s bring. My expectations are very high for what they are going to bring."
The Seahawks improved to 8-1 on the road, setting a season record for road victories, and won their seventh in a row since a 21-19 defeat against the Rams on Nov. 16 and also got revenge for a 17-13 loss against the 49ers in the regular-season opener.
The Seahawks didn’t make it as easy on themselves as they could have, scoring just 10 points in the first half despite driving to the 49ers’ 29-yard line or closer on their first four possessions. The lone touchdown came on a 27-yard run by Zach Charbonnet with 4:29 to play in the first quarter.
A game that by all rights could have been a blowout at the half was instead just a 10-3 Seahawks lead.
It was still tight late in the third quarter when they again appeared on the verge of having one of their own mistakes give the 49ers a chance to get back in it.
On first-and-10 at the 32, Darnold stumbled after taking a snap under center, apparently getting his feet tangled with Sundell, which resulted in a fumbled handoff off to Charbonnet, who beat a few 49ers to the ball for a 7-yard loss that at least saved the ball.
"Huge," said Darnold of the recovery. “… I think in that situation again I would probably try to just tuck the ball and take the loss and not try to hand it off.
A play later it was still third-and-17 and a handoff to Kenneth Walker III might have appeared to some a safe play.
But for the third time in three games, the Seahawks turned a third-and-long run into a first down as Walker took a pitch to the right and used good blocks from guard Grey Zabel and center Sundell to scoot for 19 yards.
On the television broadcast, 49ers general manager John Lynch was shown holding his hands on his head, likely realizing the game was slipping away.
Indeed it was as the Seahawks soon kicked a field goal for a 10-point lead and Thomas’ play and the long drive ended the drama for the night but only heightened the expectations for the future for Seattle.
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