Resurgent Second Half Pushes 49ers Past Seahawks in 41-23 Wild Card Win

Exhale 49ers fans. Your team is advancing as expected. It just wasn't in the fashion that most would've anticipated. The Seahawks gave the 49ers a battle that put a lot of stress on them.

From the beginning of the second quarter until the final few minutes of the third, Seattle was challenging the 49ers. They were clearly uncomfortable with how Seattle was attacking and defending. In the end, the 49ers were able to wake up and emerge as the elite team they are known to be.

A resurgent second half pushes the 49ers past the Seahawks in their 41-23 Wild Card playoff win.

This game was looking like the worst game of the season for the 49ers. Offensively they couldn't muster any success after their first two drives. Defensively they showed up like they did against the Raiders -- hungover. The pass rush was nonexistent for the vast majority of the game like it was versus Las Vegas. It was crazy to see considering how the 49ers performed against the Seahawks before. Seattle had only managed to score 20 points on the 49ers in their previous two matchups with 13 of the points stemming from the offense. They scored 17 points in the second quarters alone.

Brock Purdy, who has been amazing since he became the starter, looked like a true rookie today. He was missing throws left and right, bailing out of the pocket too early, and struggled often to find the wide open receiver. This was easily his worst game of the season. Kyle Shanahan might've overthought his game plan in the first half a bit too as the first half saw Purdy drop back a ton.

Shanahan was likely trying to get Purdy some comfort and confidence, which is understandable. He doesn't wanna call playoff games protecting his quarterback as he has done in the past with Jimmy Garoppolo. But there comes a time where winning the game at hand matters most and it felt like Shanahan was pressing too hard with the passing attack.

Despite that and the 49ers defense playing poorly, they were still in an even game. The 49ers defense and Purdy ended up resurging in the second half. It all started with the offense storming out of the gates from halftime with a touchdown drive that took over seven minutes of the quarter. The ensuing drive for Seattle ended up seeing them have success yet again with the 49ers defense struggling. They were poised to score at least a field goal. A game changing play was desperately needed out of the defense.

And boy, did they get that game changing play.

Charles Omenihu came through with a clutch strip sack of Geno Smith that allowed Nick Bosa to recover the ball. From then on, the 49ers never looked back. The offense was back to normal playing efficiently with Purdy throwing the ball smoothly again. The defense was locked down and forced the Seahawks into an implosion. This is the 49ers team that was supposed to show up for the entire game, but ultimately it is how you finish a game.

The 49ers defense still did it's job by only allowing 17 points when the game was still alive, while the offense continued to put up a flurry of points with Purdy as the starter. Tip of the cap to the Seahawks for testing the 49ers. This will only help the 49ers going forward as they enter the Divisional playoff round. A lot will need to be reviewed to avoid a second quarter outing like they did today.

For now, they will rest and recover as they await their next opponent.