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The Seattle Seahawks locked up the top seed in the NFC playoffs and a strong path to the Super Bowl on Saturday night with a season finale win over the San Francisco 49ers.
Seattle also finished with their best regular season record in franchise history, with 14 wins for the first time ever.
The Seahawks held on for a 10-point victory despite outgaining the 49ers 363 yards to 173 and driving 64 plays to San Francisco’s 42.
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Jaxon Smith-Njigba #11 of the Seattle Seahawks fails to catch the ball against Ji’Ayir Brown #27 of the San Francisco 49ers during an NFL game on January 3, 2026 at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California. (Matthew Huang/Icon Sportswire)
Seattle missed a field goal in the fourth quarter and turned the ball over on downs in the first quarter to waste two red zone drives, but dominated on defense to prevent the missed opportunities from coming back to haunt them.
The 49ers also wasted their best drive of the night when quarterback Brock Purdy was intercepted at Seattle’s three-yard line in the fourth quarter with a 10-point deficit, seemingly sealing the game for the Seahawks.
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Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold, in his first season with the team, completed 20 passes on 26 attempts for 198 yards and helped set up the game’s only touchdown in the first quarter.
Darnold redeemed a disappointing Week 18 game for the Minnesota Vikings last season when he completed just 18 of 41 passes for 166 yards in a top-seeded game against the Detroit Lions.
Darnold said “learning from mistakes and staying calm from the pocket” made the difference in his performance Saturday compared to a year ago, in a postgame interview with ESPN.
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Jaxon Smith-Njigba #11 of the Seattle Seahawks carries the ball against the San Francisco 49ers during the second quarter of a game at Levi’s Stadium on January 3, 2026 in Santa Clara, California. (Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
Meanwhile, 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy had just 127 yards with the late interception, took a big hit on his final pass of the night, then took a while to recover. He was eventually able to get off the field and Seattle ran out the clock.
