3 for the Money: 49ers @ Seahawks Playoff Preview

by Zak Drapeau

1/16/2026 - Sportz Nation

Game Preview

A rematch from only 2 weeks ago, this game should be one of the closest of the week and the only divisional matchup in the Divisional Round. These NFC West rivals played twice this year and split the series, but when the stakes were at it's highest in a Week 18 game that was for the #1 seed in the NFC and the NFC West title, it was the Seahawks that played stronger on their way to a 13-3 win.

This will assuredly be a defensive seesaw between two of the best in the game. While I have Seattle's ahead of San Fran's by a bit because of their pass rush, I have to believe this game will be won and lost by the turnover battle.

The Seahawks' defense is among the best in the league in takeaways, ranking 6th in the regular season with 18 picks and 7 fumbles. On the other side, the 49ers defense is so good at adjusting and disguising mid game that Sam Darnold should be in for a rough game.

Speaking of Darnold, playing the 49ers twice this season brought out his most mediocre games; he didn't throw an interception but he also didn't do much to help his team win. In total, he went 36-of-49 passes for 348 yards, 0 TDs and 0 INTs with 2 fumbles. This has kind of been the story of Darnold's 2025 season, with a 25:14 TD:INT ratio, he has been serviceable in the Hawks' run-first offense but certainly has had a disappointing season compared to his 2024 campaign.

Then on the other side, Brock Purdy has had a very up-and-down season especially surrounding his long-standing turf toe injury. Missing 8 games this season, Purdy would come back for the 49ers playoff race as the team rattled off 6 wins in a row before the Week 18 battle. In those games, Purdy would throw 16 TDs and add 3 more on the ground to only 5 turnovers.

When further analyzing Purdy's success since coming back, his last two games respectively at home vs Seattle and the playoff game in Philadelphia have been dreadful, calling into question his clutch factor. Still, his performance in Philadelphia was good enough to defeat the reigning champions while simultaneously having to change his game on the fly with the recent injury to George Kittle.

I struggle to say luckily in this scenario, but as it stands, the 49ers have a LOT of experience in "next man up" thanks to injuries so luckily... the 49ers should be ready to go even without their star Tight End.

The key for the 49ers to win this game will be to get to Darnold. In their previous two games against the Seahawks, they got 3 sacks but never quite made him feel uncomfortable. This wasn't just an anomaly as the 49ers were by far the worst team in the league at getting pressure, with a league-worst 20 sacks on the season. If they can get more pressure, Darnold is very susceptible to the blitz with 11 fumbles from in the pocket and 14 interceptions on the season.

My Prediction

The Seahawks being favored by 7 points in this game and I agree with them being the team that should come out on top, but I like the 49ers to cover the spread. These NFC West battles are always tight and when there are 2 elite head coaches like Macdonald and Shanahan, I have to assume a 1-score game is incoming.

The 49ers are a terrific story this year in how they've overcome so much injury problems to make it this far. The Seahawks on the other hand have been among the Top-5 least injured teams this year with their defense having at least 7 of their 11 season starters in every game this year.

With the strong coaching and even stronger defenses, I will also take the Under 45.5 in this game and I believe the score will be much lower than that. I'd put it somewhere around the 17-14 mark in favor of the Seahawks whose defense is just to good for the 49ers to overcome in my opinion.

Check out fansonlysportz.com/news for more sports media content posted daily.

Make sure to stay tuned as we continue coverage of the 2026 NFL Playoffs.

-Z.D.