Le Journal

When you get your butt kicked in the fashion the San Francisco 49ers did on Saturday night against the Seattle Seahawks, it should be easy to acknowledge who the better team was. A 35-point loss was going to happen with Fred Warner, or if John Lynch made a trade at the deadline, or any other excuse you’ve seen since the loss. The Niners shot themselves in the foot so many times that they needed to reload. That didn’t help their case as a short-handed underdog on the road. We’ll talk about the loss all week and how that’ll shape the 49ers’ path moving forward, starting with the Winners and Losers from Saturday night. Winners Trent Williams The Seahawks played with a level of physicality that few players offensively were prepared for. Trent Williams was. He had multiple takedowns in pass protection and, while he allowed a quarterback hit, looked like the one player holding his own and not physically overwhelmed upfront. Dee Winters Winters was one of the few defensive players who matched Seattle’s physicality. He had nine tackles, five stops, three tackles for loss, two of which were “hustle stops,” and also had a pair of quarterback pressures, including a quarterback hit. Winters was flying around as you’d want from your WILL linebacker. He cut down on his missed tackles this time around, only having one. Winters was targeted four times in coverage and allowed 20 yards. It was the game the 49ers needed from Winters. Losers Special teams Rookie Jordan James and backup nickel Chase Lucas took bad routes on the opening kickoff, leading to a touchdown. The punter and kicker did their jobs on Saturday night, but Skyy Moore wasn’t able to get anything going, nor was Brian Robinson as a returner. You can’t give up a score in the playoffs. Ricky Pearsall Pearsall got bullied by the Seahawks’ secondary. He couldn’t haul in a third-down target after a diving attempt. That was as open as he has been all night. There were multiple reps in which Pearsall was jammed for multiple seconds during the play. He had a difficult time shaking free from Devon Witherspoon. As the game progressed, Pearsall was looking to avoid contact. On the 4th & 2 play when the quarterback was sacked, Pearsall ran into Demarcus Robinson. It was an ugly outing from the Niners’ second-year wideout. Spencer Burford Mike Macdonald put a bullseye on Burford. His players took full advantage of Burford “getting out over his skis” as a blocker. Purford allowed a team-high six pressures, including a quarterback hit. Whether it was 1-on-1 or defending the different games Macdonald ran at him, Burford looked like a player who had no business being on the field. Marques Sigle It was like Austen Pleasants all over again. You look competent in limited action one week, and turn around only to show your true colors the next. Sigle had six tackles and a stop, but had a back-breaking defensive pass interference call when he made contact on the wide receiver too early. On the touchdown that Darrell Luter allowed, Sigle got caught in no man’s land. Inexplicably, he decided to rush Sam Darnold at the last minute instead of getting in the throwing lane. Sigle also missed a tackle. Kyle Shanahan From an Xs and Os perspective, Macdonald and the Seahawks jumped on every high-low concept, were ready for any tricks Shanahan had up his sleeves, and thoroughly embarrassed the 49ers offense. It took throwing back across the field after scrambling right to pick up a first down. From a coaching point of view, it seemed like Shanahan let his emotions get the best of him. The 49ers don’t have the kind of depth where they can afford to pull Renardo Green off the field. Yes, he made a mistake. You know who else did? Everybody else. Shanahan was crying to the refs seemingly every time the camera panned to him in the first half. He was obviously frustrated and had every right to be, but you could tell he was upset with his team and just…

San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle sounded optimistic when asked about expectations for returning next season after an Achilles injury suffered on January 11: Surgery went really really good. I’m incredibly happy with it. A little background into it. He said best case scenrio, when you tear an Achilles, is that you tear it up high by your soleus, which is what I did. It was a clean tear, so they didn’t have to drill into my heel. And where the repair was is where there’s more blood flow. So, it takes some time off your recovery time. So, he’s very excited about everything. My recovery, when I’ll be running, when I’ll be able to play again. He’s very excited about it. That puts me in a really good mood. It’s not as bad as other ones, so, just excited about that. Kittle’s surgery was last week, performed by Dr. Neal ElAttrache. Kittle didn’t get into specifics about when he’d return, but sounded sure that he’d be playing in the first half of the season in 2026. Kittle also confirmed that the tequila story was true and that he “had a great time” in the locker room during the Wild Card round after the injury. Finally, Kittle shared why he has so much respect for this team: Kyle said it best. It sucks at the end of the year for everybody who doesn’t win. It sucks for everybody, regardless of the ending. What’s cool about this team, and I think a lot of other teams might say, ‘Oh, we have a gritty team, we won’t blink, we don’t do this.’ The amount of guys who played this year, all over the ball, whether it was offense, defense, special teams, whoever it was. The guys that game in and took advantage of their opportunities and played at a high level, that is playing gritty. That’s playing without blinking. Just show up, do your job. You don’t even know what your job is and you’re still doing it. I just have so much respect for this team and the grind that they went through. Especially when you’re missing so many vocal leaders and so many key players. Guys just stepped up and made plays constantly. Roster turnover year over year is inevitable. The 49ers shouldn’t have nearly as much as they did a year ago. Some of their biggest offseason moves will be getting players like Kittle back from injury.