Grading the Seahawks in their 21-13 loss to the 49ers

Here’s how the Seattle Seahawks grade out in their 21-13 loss to the San Francisco 49ers on Thursday night at Lumen Field:

OFFENSE

The 49ers made it a long night for Seattle’s offense. The Seahawks’ offensive line was overmatched by San Francisco’s front seven, and Seattle couldn’t get anything going either on the ground or in the air, at least not until late in the fourth quarter when the 49ers went into prevent mode while up two scores with time winding down. Quarterback Geno Smith completed a lot of passes as usual (70.5% completion percentage), but managed just 5.4 yards per attempt while getting hit nine times. Running back Travis Homer’s fumble late in the second quarter proved to be game changer as it resulted in at least a seven-point swing.

Grade: D

DEFENSE

Considering the narrative entering the game — a Seattle defense that can’t stop the run was up against one of the top rushing attacks in the NFL — the Seahawks defense held up OK. And Seattle got stops in the second half when it felt like San Francisco was on the verge of breaking the game open. But the secondary got burned bad twice by third-string quarterback Brock Purdy, each of which ended up as touchdowns to George Kittle. And when the run defense absolutely had to get a third-down stop in order to get the ball back one last time, it instead allowed a 55-yard game-clinching run.

Grade: C

SPECIAL TEAMS

Punter Michael Dickson and kicker Jason Myers were Seattle’s two best players. Dickson had his best game of the season, including having one punt die at the 1-yard line in the fourth quarter as the 49ers regularly had to start drives deep in their own territory. Myers has been flawless all season long and he was at it again Thursday, including putting a 51-yard field goal right down the middle. There was one bad penalty when interfering with a fair catch on punt coverage, as well as imperfection in kickoff coverage, but special teams were the reason why this one didn’t turn into a blowout.

Grade: A-

COACHING

The coaches did what they could to give Seattle a chance. When it was evident in the first quarter that Seattle’s offensive line couldn’t handle San Francisco’s pass rush, the offense switched exclusively to short passes to keep Smith from taking too bad of a beating. Head coach Pete Carroll hadn’t won a challenge this season, but he used his red flag wisely Thursday, winning his first one to save clock in the fourth quarter, and the one he lost just served as a timeout in a situation he would have used one in anyway. The coaches have yet to find a way to rein in receiver DK Metcalf’s emotions, however.

Grade: B

OVERALL

This was always going to be a tough task for Seattle, considering the 49ers came in riding a six-game winning streak. Somehow it ended up being a one-score game, even though it felt like the Seahawks were being pummeled. But the result was a damaging one for Seattle. Not only did San Francisco clinch the NFC West title, Seattle will be out of playoff position with three weeks remaining in the season regardless of other results this weekend. The Seahawks will need to use the extra few days of preparation for a daunting game at Kansas City next week.

Grade: C+

– Nick Patterson, Herald writer