Sam Darnold has thrown for as many touchdowns as you have against the 49ers this season
Two times wasn’t enough.
For the third time since the Seahawks joined the NFC West, the San Francisco 49ers and the Seattle Seahawks meet for the third time in the span of a season, this time with a Divisional Round Saturday night date at Lumen Field.
The regular-season schedule for these two teams was an odd one, with the NFC West rivals opening and closing the season against each other. Now, one will take the honors of ending the other’s season with a postseason victory.
With these two teams meeting only two weeks ago, there are plenty of numbers you already know. This week, we will look at a few numbers that stood out from the two games both sides have already played, with the rubber match pending for Saturday. These are the numbers to know for the third and final game of the 2025 trilogy between the 49ers and Seahawks:
0
Sam Darnold threw zero touchdowns in the two games against the 49ers.
Darnold had only five games in 2025 in which he finished without a touchdown pass, and the 49ers were responsible for 40 percent of those games. Now, you’d feel better about that stat if the 49ers swept the season series, but Seattle has managed poor Darnold performances well this season, going 3-2 in the games where he’s without a passing touchdown.
Not only have they prevented Darnold from finding the end zone (and more impressively, prevented Jaxon Smith-Njigba from finding the end zone), but two of Darnold’s five lowest passing yard outputs have also come against this 49ers defense, with 150 passing yards in Week 1 and 198 in Week 18. And again, Seattle has gone 4-1 in games where Darnold has thrown for fewer than 200 yards.
All of that is a long-winded way of saying a lot of Saturday night will come down to Seattle’s run game. The 49ers – with a defense at full health – symied the run game back in Week 1, holding Seattle to just 84 rushing yards. Kenneth Walker and Zach Charbonnet combined for 67 rushing yards on 22 carries, good for a pedestrian 3.05 yards per attempt.
But a flip was switched in Week 18 against the 49ers’ less-than-healthy defense for the Seattle rushing duo. Walker and Charbonnet torched the San Francisco defense for 171 yards on 33 attempts, a vast improvement, averaging 5.18 yards per rush in the Seattle win.
The 49ers seem to have Darnold figured out, which will only make the Seattle backfield that much more valuable on Saturday. If the 49ers can force Darnold into a turnover or two and contain Charbonnet and Walker, that could be the combination that advances San Francisco to the NFC Championship Game.
99.5
Christian McCaffrey averaged 99.5 yards in the two games against Seattle.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that the 49ers’ offense comes and goes with Christian McCaffrey. McCaffrey had one of his better games of the season in terms of scrimmage yards back in Week 1, totaling 142 total yards, tied for the fifth-most he had in a game in 2025. That performance was rewarded with a 49ers win, as it was throughout the season, with San Francisco going 8-1 in games where McCaffrey finished with more than 130 scrimmage yards.
Fast forward to Week 18, and Seattle held McCaffrey to a season-low 57 yards from scrimmage, unsurprisingly leading to a 49ers loss. San Francisco lost both games where McCaffrey was held to less than 70 yards, with the offense combining for 18 points in those games.
San Francisco needs to find a way to get McCaffrey more involved in the offense, one or another, as they did back in Week 1 compared to Week 18. McCaffrey had 31 touches in Week 1, resulting in those 142 yards. The 49ers went 8-0 in games where McCaffrey had more than 25 touches, suggesting just getting him the ball helps the offense as a whole. In Week 18, McCaffrey was limited to just 14 touches, with San Francisco going 2-3 in games where he gets fewer than 20.
The difference could be the potential return of Ricky Pearsall and the Wild Card surge from Demarcus Robinson. The 49ers had Pearsall in the Week 1 victory over Seattle, and his ability to stretch the field vertically could open some space underneath for McCaffrey to operate. Pearsall’s absence loomed large against the Seattle defense in Week 18, with no outside threat to stretch the field, the Seahawks were able to hold both the 49ers offense and McCaffrey to their worst game of 2025.
Not the most ground-shaking of analysis, but the 49ers must get McCaffrey more involved on Saturday than they did in Week 18.
13-10
The average score in the two games between San Francisco and Seattle was Seahawks 13, 49ers 10.
Both were low-scoring affairs and some of the lowest-scoring efforts from both sides. The 49ers were able to hold Seattle to both of their lowest point totals on the season, allowing 13 points in the Week 1 win and the Week 18 loss. Seattle, on the other hand, held San Francisco to their fourth-lowest point total by holding San Francisco to 17 in the opener and a season-low three points in the finale.
Not only were both games close, but they also featured second-half miscues that directly impacted the outcome.
In the opener, Seattle entered the fourth quarter up 10-7 when Darnold opened the final frame with a quick pass to Smith-Njigba. The receiver was able to haul in the pass, but a hit from Sam Okuayinonu knocked the ball free, and Marques Sigle was able to recover. San Francisco took that mistake and cashed it in for three points to tie the game.
After Brock Purdy miraculously connected with Jake Tonges for a go-ahead touchdown late in the fourth, Seattle found itself in prime position to retake the lead for good. With the ball inside the San Francisco ten-yard line and less than a minute left, Nick Bosa forced a Darnold fumble for a San Francisco recovery, sealing the game for the 49ers.
Week 18, the ball (literally) bounced the opposite way. Late in the third quarter, a bad snap would force Darnold to put the ball on the ground. Yetur Gross-Matos was the first to get to the ball, but he couldn’t hold on before Charbonnet recovered. Instead of a change of possession, Seattle suffered a seven-yard loss. Two plays later, Walker would convert a third-and-17 with a 19-yard gain, extending a drive that would end in a Jason Myers field goal to extend the lead to 10.
San Francisco responded well, putting together their best drive of the evening. Finding themselves in the red zone for the first time, the 49ers had a prime chance to cut the lead to one possession early in the fourth quarter. Purdy would put a second-down pass just behind McCaffrey, who would get both hands on the ball, but the adjustment caused a bobble, falling into the grasp of the Seahawks linebacker Drake Thomas for a goal-to-go interception, essentially giving the game to Seattle.
A long way to say: expect a close game on Saturday night with the stakes as high as they can be.
Category: General Sports
