Photo Credit: Stephen Brashear/The Associated Press

The Seattle Seahawks are heading to the NFC Championship game for the first time in over a decade. The Seahawks dismantled the San Francisco 49ers 41–6. It was the first playoff game in Seattle since the 2016 season, and it came against a division rival, the crowd, the city, and the team were ready for it.

The game started with a bang as Rashid Shaheed returned the opening kickoff 95 yards just 13 seconds into the game to give the Seahawks a 7–0 lead. As it turned out, that’s all they would need. Seattle stopped the 49ers on 4th-and-1 on their opening drive, then went down the field and kicked a field goal.

Jake Tonges, who was filling in at tight end for George Kittle after Kittle was injured last week in the Wild Card round in Philadelphia, fumbled on the second play of San Francisco’s ensuing drive, and Julian Love recovered for Seattle.

Sam Darnold surprisingly popped up on the injury report Thursday with an oblique injury and missed practice, creating some uncertainty about his status and health heading into Saturday. Darnold was sacked on first down and got up a bit slowly, but on the next play on 2nd-and-20,he delivered a beautiful dart to Cooper Kupp for a first down– who was Seattle’s leading receiver in the game. A few plays later, Darnold found Jaxon Smith-Njigba for a touchdown while rolling out to the left, showing everyone he was still mobile despite dealing with a nagging injury.

You could sense the desperation from the 49ers, who were down 17–0 in the first quarter. Brock Purdy made some nice scramble plays on third down to keep drives alive. Kyle Shanahan dialed up a double-reverse screen pass, which Seattle shut down for just a one-yard gain. San Francisco settled for a field goal on that drive, and it appeared they had stopped Seattle on 3rd-and-1 to gain some momentum. However, a holding penalty extended the Seattle drive, but Zach Charbonnet injured his knee on the play.

Kenneth Walker scored on the drive, extending Seattle’s lead to 24–6 before halftime. Walker had a huge day against the 49ers in Week 18, and Seattle had run a tandem approach with him and Charbonnet all season. With Charbonnet leaving the game in the second quarter, Walker completely took advantage of the opportunity to handle the bulk of the carries. He finished with 116 yards and three rushing touchdowns on 19 carries.

Seattle continued its formula of running all over the 49ers, much like it did in the regular season. Sam Darnold threw the ball just 17 times, completing 12 passes for 124 yards and a touchdown. Cooper Kupp had five catches for 60 yards after not being heavily involved in the offense most of the year. Jaxon Smith-Njigba only finished with three receptions for 19 yards, and caught Darnold’s lone passing touchdown.

Seattle’s defense completely shut down the 49ers in the second half, sniffing out any ideas of a comeback. Christian McCaffrey was dealing with a shoulder stinger and missed multiple series from the second quarter onward. As mentioned earlier, Zach Charbonnet did not return for Seattle, so did left tackle Charles Cross, who exited in the second half, but that may have just been precautionary.

Seattle dominated in all three phases and will now wait for the winner of the Chicago Bears–Los Angeles Rams game to see who they will host in the NFC Championship Game.