3 plays that sunk the 49ers from the jump in their Divisional Round loss

Brutal loss.

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The San Francisco 49ers lost to the Seattle Seahawks at the time the game started. Before the 49ers could blink, it was 7-,0 and with four minutes to go in the first quarter, the team was down 17-0. It changed the entire way the 49ers wanted to play. How did things get out of hand so quickly for the 49ers?

Rashid Shaheed kickoff return 

The opening kickoff was a touchdown for the Seahawks. Shaheed took the ball at the 3-yard line and 97 yards later, the team was leading 7-0. It took just one missed tackle and a lot of speed for the 49ers to get down early.

San Francisco had been reliant on quality special teams all season, so it is a surprise to see this unit be what let them down so early. Still, the Seahawks made a massive trade deadline acquisition to obtain Shaheed, while the 49ers were much quieter around that time. It ended up mattering in this game. 

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Poor fourth-down decision 

The 49ers got the ball down 7-0 and started to move it. However, on third down with a yard to go they ran the ball straight into the Seahawks' front for no gain. On fourth down with a yard to go they had to go for it, knowing their offense needed to start fast. 

San Francisco converted, but Mike McDonald called a timeout right before the snap. Kyle Shanahan was annoyed, but the timeout was called in time. The 49ers best play was revealed, and they had to go to a backup plan. That was a fullback option with Christian McCaffrey as the back behind Kyle Jusczyk. The play went about as expected. 

Shanahan learned the hard way that running into the Seattle front was not going to work. On the one play they did not try to run at Seattle, they converted, but on the two plays they tried to beat the front, they failed. This set the tone for the game and gave Seattle good field position, making it 10-0. 

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Jake Tonges fumbles

Down 10-0, it felt like San Francisco was pressing to make something happen. Jake Tonges caught a ball, turned upfield, and as he fought for more yards, he was stripped of the football. Seattle had the ball with great field position, and it did not take long for the score to be 17-0.

The 49ers defense was their weakest unit, but it was hard to blame them for the hole that was created. It put the offense out of rhythm and made the Seahawks offensive gameplan much easier. 

San Francisco got dominated, but those three plays could have changed the entire tenor of the game.