Stacy Rost: 3 takeaways from Seahawks’ drubbing of 49ers

Mike Macdonald and Sam Darnold scored their first playoff wins and the Seattle Seahawks are one more win away from the Super Bowl following their 41-6 drubbing of the San Francisco 49ers.

Seahawks win | Instant Reaction| Box Score

Here are three quick takeaways from Seattle’s win:

Give Darnold credit already

The strength of this team is a defense that’s stellar up front and ranked first in scoring in the regular season. But give Sam Darnold — and the rest of this offense — their credit after this one. Darnold became just the second quarterback ever to have 14 wins in consecutive seasons with different teams, a feat that only Tom Brady had accomplished. I don’t know that anyone’s putting Darnold’s name as a first-ballot Hall of Famer or entering it into this year’s MVP conversation, but that leaves him in a gray area that we, as football consumers, have a hard time figuring out.

Is he a game manager? A liability? If he fell apart in a single playoff start last season, does that mean he can’t win for Seattle when it counts most this year?

Of course not. Sure, Darnold led all quarterbacks in total turnovers (something to watch in the postseason) and doesn’t have the touchdown totals of Matthew Stafford or the mobility of a player like Josh Allen. But he was also one of the league’s most explosive passers. He hasn’t thrown a pick in his last two games, both high-stakes matchups, and had some stellar plays of his own tonight (including this dart to Jaxon Smith-Njigba). Darnold is good, and sometimes even great, and whether he’s just good or great, it’ll be plenty enough for a team this well-balanced.

Made it look too easy 😮‍💨 @jaxon_smith1

📺: @NFLonFOX pic.twitter.com/hfw5IACmjH

— xz* – Seattle Seahawks (@Seahawks) January 18, 2026

Walker’s hat trick signals a true turn for the run game

Kenneth Walker III rushed for 1,000 yards this season and Zach Charbonnet totaled 12 touchdowns, but Seattle’s success in the run game has been concentrated to the second half of the season, most especially the last four games, and that’s not a bad thing. The Seahawks were averaging 103 rushing yards per game and were 29th in yards per rush attempt through Week 9. They’ve rushed for at least 150 in each of the last four weeks. While Charbonnet’s injury on Saturday is one to keep an eye one, Seattle’s seen a clear boost in what was an area of inconsistency through the season’s first half.

Who’s beating this defense?

Will we see an answer to that question in the next two games? Maybe, but it’ll be a hard-fought battle. Seattle’s defensive line struggled to get home rushing four early in this one, and it was still a suffocating performance and a blowout win. That’s how dominant this unit, especially this front seven, has been all year long. Seattle forced a turnover on downs three times, resulting in 13 points added. The 49ers converted 50% of third downs, but true gains were marginal: just 3.9 yards per play with five plays of negative yardage (including sacks) or no gain.

More on the Seattle Seahawks

• Seahawks Injuries: What Macdonald said about Cross, Charbonnet
• Seattle Seahawks ride all-three-phases formula to NFC title game
• Seattle Seahawks rout 49ers to reach NFC title game

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