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Seattle might still have them back in the woodshed administering a beating that was reminiscent of the Week 18 game only with everything going Seattle's way.

 

The Seahawks needed 13 seconds to score all the points they would need in their divisional playoff game against San Francisco.

After 60 minutes, the 49ers still had not gotten the ball to within 20 yards of Seattle’s end zone.

Seattle 41, San Francisco 6, and that might not even fully capture what a walloping this was.

Niners quarterback Brock Purdy was under siege, scrambling for more than 300 yards behind the line of scrimmage according to the FOX broadcast crew.

Meanwhile, Sam Darnold and his scrutinized oblique had to throw only five passes in the second half. I don’t want to gloss over the first-quarter fastball he whistled to Jaxon Smith-Njigba for a 4-yard touchdown, but the Seahawks were already leading by double digits when that happened. Seattle threw all of 17 passes in the game.

Kenneth Walker finished with 145 yards rushing and scored three touchdowns, but the story of this game – just like the Week 18 meeting – was Seattle’s defense.

The Seahawks choked out the 49ers. Again.

This was an old-school whupping that was reminiscent of the blowouts the Seahawks used to serve up at home in prime time.

Like Seattle 42, San Francisco 13 in December 2012 when Richard Sherman returned a blocked field-goal attempt 90 yards for a touchdown.

Or Seattle 34, New Orleans 7 the following season when the Seahawks let their linebackers match up with Jimmy Graham and Darren Sproles and the Saints offense sputtered.

It was, if we’re being honest, a worst-case version for San Francisco of the game these two teams played two weeks ago.

Instead of missing two field-goal attempts, as Seattle did in Week 18, Rasheed Shahid returned the opening kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown.

Instead of committing one turnover as San Francisco did in Week 18, the 49ers committed three.

And while San Francisco was missing tight end George Kittle this time, the 49ers had left tackle Trent Williams and receiver Ricky Pearsall. Didn’t matter.

The 49ers gained 173 yards in the regular-season finale, they finished with 236 in this game.

Christian McCaffrey had 57 yards from scrimmage in Week 18, his fewest in any game this season. He gained 74 on Saturday night.

San Francisco was so outmatched that on fourth-and-1, Kyle Shanahan called a wild-ass option play in which fullback Justin Juszczyk attempted to pitch the ball to Christian McCaffrey. It was one of two fourth-down stops Seattle logged.

There will be people who use these two games to draw sweeping conclusions about the state of these two franchises. They will point to the fact that San Francisco averaged 8.7 points in three games against the Seahawks this season as proof that Seattle coach Mike Macdonald has formulated a defense that is kryptonite to Shanahan’s offense.

I believe that to be wildly overstated.

The 49ers have suffered a raft of injuries so severe that there are people point to an electrical substation near the team’s practice facility as the cause (I’m not kidding). They were missing defensive end Nick Bosa and linebacker Fred Warner, their two best defenders, for much of the year. Brandon Aiyuk, who was presumed to be their No. 1 receiver, did not play a single down this season as he essentially went AWOL.

The 49ers rushing offense was below average this season, but watching Purdy this season, I’m pretty convinced he’s a hell of a quarterback, which gives San Francisco a shot to be right back in the mix next season.

But on Saturday night, the 49ers looked like a team whose tank was empty while the Seahawks appeared to have just hit their cruising altitude.

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