Seahawks vs. 49ers Winners and Losers: Time to Worry About Sam Darnold

Turns out they can’t all finish 41-6.

The Seattle Seahawks have now lost five straight regular season home games to the San Francisco 49ers, with this one being the weirdest and perhaps the most damaging. A well-deserved 32-29 loss given the ongoing turnover issues and poor execution. Seattle now finds itself in a situation it never was in last season: several games out of first place without a tiebreaker. The season doesn’t end in October and there’s still a ton of football left, but given current form and remaining schedules, it’s hard to argue that the Seahawks are ready for a repeat of the NFC West.

Let’s move on to the winners and losers.

Byron Murphy II is playing at an All-Pro level

The third-year defensive tackle blows up points, sacks the quarterback (twice, in fact, when it comes to Brock Purdy) and continues to play at an elite level. For my money, he was the best defensive player on the field for Seattle, and he’ll be paid handsomely starting next year.

Nehemiah Pritchett is playing

A special teams grab by Jacob Cowing to force a turnover, followed by a nice interception by Purdy for his second turnover involvement. Pritchett has been one of the Seahawks’ great stories in 2026, taking full advantage of Riq Woolen’s departure and his insertion into the first-team defensive rotation.

Ernest Jones IV anchors the defense

There’s not much to complain about when it comes to the Seahawks’ defensive performance (well, except for the run defense toward the end and the coverage struggles of one player in particular). Jones was so good that he even got Dre Greenlaw thrown out for that stupid headbutt on the sidelines. Ernest picked up another sack, had tight coverage (which is part of why George Kittle had a quiet day), and led the team in tackles. When Ernest racks up tackles, you know it’s not a performance of empty calories.

Jason Myers shines and keeps Seattle in the game

Five of five at the baskets, most of which were not chippies. Myers didn’t miss extra points either, so after a very iffy performance against the Chargers, he stepped up and did his job. This is more about the Myers we expect to see on a weekly basis.

It’s time to worry about Sam Darnold

It was bad. Darnold sees ghosts again and it’s a little disturbing. He threw two more terrible interceptions and took a few confusing sacks, so the few positive plays he made were offset by game-damaging negatives. I’m not in “Bench Sam Darnold” mode and it’s crazy that we’re doing this with Drew Lock for a second, different era of starting QB, but this version of Darnold is not worth a long-term investment.

I wonder if he returned from injury too soon, as he doesn’t consistently complete passes with confidence and he doesn’t take too many shots from deep down the field. Something is wrong, because this is the worst he’s had as a Seahawks quarterback.

It’s over for George Holani

George Holani fumbled three times before even having a single run of more than 10 yards. John Schneider praised him for replacing Zach Charbonnet last playoffs, but it shouldn’t have been expected for him to get so many points on offense. I’ve seen enough. Holani doesn’t even provide great professional passes, which is one of his strengths.

Robert Henry Jr, I hope you’ve learned enough about the playbook because it’s time to run some races on Thursday. He’s an RB3 getting RB2 duties and there’s an untenable chasm.

Emanuel Wilson’s ball security is no better than Jadarian Price’s

That’s two fumbles in as many weeks for Wilson, who scored a touchdown but left a ton of yards on the field by simply not being quick. He runs hard but gets tackled on the ankle and doesn’t have a breakout. It’s the fumble that bothers me because it’s the downfall of having K9 and Zach Charbonnet with their airtight ball security. There is little to no reward from an explosive play when Emanuel Wilson turns the ball over.

Josh Jobe never had a chance against Mike Evans

Just like the Seahawks weren’t going to re-sign Ken Walker, they weren’t going to re-sign Riq Woolen either. I get annoyed when people say Riq was CB3 when the snap count reflected a split between Jobe and Woolen as CB2a/2b. Well, Woolen is gone and Jobe is being treated like a true CB2, which means not sharing time with anyone else and taking on more difficult missions.

Mike Evans is going to Canton. Josh Jobe probably isn’t. Mike Evans is very big and physical and uses his body as well as anyone. Josh Jobe is a small cornerback. It was a mismatch from the jump and the 49ers exploited it almost to perfection.

I will blame Coach Macdonald and the staff for not putting Jobe over anyone else, but they seem content to keep Nehemiah Pritchett in the slot even though he is the one with size and some physicality. Trevon Diggs has played but sparingly, and he’s a ball hawk at his best, but Evans probably runs him too.

The offensive line struggles to open gaps and protect Sam Darnold

Not that Darnold didn’t pressure at times, but the offensive line wasn’t good. Too many snap pressures on play action, Holani’s fumble for a touchdown was due to Jalen Sundell exploding in the backfield, and even stalwarts like Charles Cross had bad moments in pass protection.

And please, PLEASE, stop the Christian Haynes/Beau Stephens rotation. We gain nothing from it.

Brian Fleury needs to know his staff and improve his situational awareness

Emanuel Wilson should never make a play on the weaker side of the offensive line while inside his own 10-yard line. This should never happen. It happened and he fumbled. Wilson is not that type of running back.

Now for the Holani fumble: Let’s say the 49ers would have used their 3 timeouts to force Seattle to continue playing before halftime instead of kneeling the ball. The outside zone with Holani (again, on the weaker side of the line) is madness. You are near your own goal line. Get into 22 people if necessary and pass the ball through the middle. Throw a draw game. Perform a quick inner swap and let the time run out. There is nothing good that can happen from a long developing running game near your own end zone with this combination of defenders and blockers.

A lot of the plays Seattle botches I put more on the players than Fleury, but the first year OC isn’t innocent for the ongoing struggles on third down and getting out of bad field position.

This could be a winner but…

Jaxon Smith-Njigba’s fall takes him out of the winners column

JSN has seen some strange drops this year. This one I put partially on Darnold for a not great ball, but someone of JSN’s caliber can catch it. This would have put the Seahawks at the bare minimum in field goal range. He still led the team with 5 catches for 102 yards and a touchdown, as well as a 16-yard run that was narrowly a dropback pass. Smith-Njigba has been playing with an injured right ankle and continues to be the focal point of Seattle’s offense, but by my count, that’s three times in four weeks that Smith-Njigba has dropped a catch he usually makes.

In many ways, that sums up the Seahawks right now: The best players aren’t executing well.