Seahawks rout 49ers to reach NFC title game
The Seattle Seahawks turned their first playoff game into a rout, knocking off the San Francisco 49ers 41-6 to reach the NFC title game.
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The Seattle Seahawks are one win from getting back to the Super Bowl for the first time since the 2014 season.
The Seahawks delivered another impressive performance against one of their biggest rivals, turning their showdown with the 49ers into a 41-6 laugher in the divisional round Saturday night at Lumen Field.
As a result, the Seahawks are heading to the NFC championship game. They will host the winner of Sunday’s game between the second-seeded Chicago Bears and fifth-seeded Los Angeles Rams next Sunday at 3:30 p.m. at Lumen Field. The radio broadcast of the NFC title game can be heard on Seattle Sports 710 AM, KIRO Newsradio 97.3 FM and the Seattle Sports app starting with the pregame show at least three hours before kickoff. The game will be televised on FOX.
This is the fourth time in franchise history the Seahawks have reached the NFC championship game and the fifth overall time they’ve reached a conference title game. They made it as an AFC squad in 1983 and as an NFC team in 2005, 2013, 2014 and now this season. They’ve advanced to the Super Bowl the previous three times they reached the NFC title game.
Seattle is now 4-0 all-time in home games during the divisional round. The 35-point margin on Saturday tied Seattle’s Super Bowl XLVIII win over the Denver Broncos for the largest margin of victory in a playoff game in franchise history.
It didn’t take long for the Seahawks to run out to a big lead in this one.
Rashid Shaheed sent Lumen Field into a frenzy immediately with a 95-yard kickoff return TD. After a fourth-down stop by the defense, the Seahawks added a 31-yard Jason Myers field goal.
Seattle Seahawks open divisional round with return TD vs 49ers
Just two plays into San Francisco’s next drive, Ernest Jones IV stripped the ball from Jake Tonges and Julian Love recovered it at the 49ers’ 42. A 21-yard connection from Sam Darnold to Cooper Kupp and a defensive pass interference brought the Seahawks near the goal line, and Darnold fired a strike in the corner of the end zone to Jaxon Smith-Njigba for a 4-yard TD and 17-0 lead with 1:50 left in the first quarter.
DARNOLD. JSN. THE SEATTLE CONNECTION.
SFvsSEA on FOX/FOX One
Stream on @NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/B8YRl1HB2q— NFL (@NFL) January 18, 2026
The 49ers chipped away with a pair of field goals in the second quarter, but a 30-yard run on reverse to Shaheed and a 16-yard catch by Jake Bobo helped set up Kenneth Walker III’s 7-yard TD run with 31 seconds left in the half to give the Seahawks a 24-6 lead at the break.
FEED HIM 🔥 @Kenneth_Walker9
📺: @NFLonFOX pic.twitter.com/jTBXwaBNGv
— xz* – Seattle Seahawks (@Seahawks) January 18, 2026
The Seahawks tacked on another short field goal and a pair of TD runs from Walker in the second half.
More on the Seattle Seahawks
• Seahawks Injuries: What Macdonald said about Cross, Charbonnet
• Seattle Seahawks ride all-three-phases formula to NFC title game
• Stacy Rost: 3 takeaways from Seattle Seahawks’ drubbing of 49ers
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