Seahawks Trail 49ers at Halftime After Brutal Momentum-Changing Fumble
The Seattle Seahawks played arguably their worst game of the season in a 27-7 loss to the San Francisco 49ers in Week 2.
Headed into Thursday night's matchup with the Niners at Lumen Field, Seattle had a chance to right these wrongs in a huge late-season division game.
But despite a Seattle offense that showed signs of life late in the first half after early struggles, Seahawks running back Travis Homer had a costly fumble that flipped momentum and allowed the Niners to build a 14-3 lead headed into halftime.
The return of Seattle rookie running back Kenneth Walker III to the lineup hardly made an early impact for a struggling Seahawks rushing attack against the best running defense in the league.
The Seahawks tried to get this part of the offense going early but were instead put behind the chains and suffered because of it. Seattle went three-and-out on three of its first four drives for a total of 11 yards.
The 49ers were a bit inconsistent to start with two three-and-outs of their own heading into the second quarter but used a nine-play, 86-yard drive toward the end of the first quarter that featured seven touches from 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey and ended with rookie quarterback Brock Purdy faking out the entire viewing audience with a pair of pass fakes before connecting with tight end George Kittle for a 28-yard touchdown to give the Niners a 7-0 lead.
The Seahawks finally showed life on the shoulders of receiver DK Metcalf, who had back-to-back 13-yard catches to spark the offense midway through the second quarter. The two big plays seemed all for nothing once Seattle got behind the chains again, but quarterback Geno Smith scrambled his way for a hard-earned, 18-yard gain on 3rd and 13.
The Niners' defense eventually held up to force a 38-yard field goal from Jason Myers to make it a 7-3 game, but it was three points the Seahawks gladly took considering how much of the first half had gone for their offense.
Seahawks safety Quandre Diggs dropped the easiest of interceptions to potentially give Seattle great field position at the end of the half, but his pass defense at least stopped the Niners on third down.
Suddenly, despite what was fixing to be disastrous first half for the Seahawks was now one that could end with them in the lead.
But arguably the biggest play of the first half came at the worst of times for the Seahawks, as Homer fumbled to give the Niners possession in the red zone with under a minute to play. McCaffrey powered in for a touchdown two plays later to completely flip the script by giving San Francisco a 14-3 lead headed into the locker room.
You can follow Zach Dimmitt on Twitter at @ZachDimmitt7
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