Seattle Seahawks Coach Mike Macdonald refused to get carried away by his team’s annihilation of the ball. San Francisco 49ersand insisted that “there is still a mission to accomplish.”
The Seahawks were too strong in all facets of the game as they put aside the challenge from the injury-ravaged Niners 41-6. to advance to the NFC Championship Game against the Chicago Bears or Los Angeles Rams.
The tone was set by Rashid Shaheed returning the kickoff for a touchdown and San Francisco had no answer on a punishing night for the road team.
“It was quite a victory,” Macdonald said. “In the locker room we’re really excited, we’re very proud of the effort and the guys understand that there’s still a mission to accomplish. We still have a week ahead here where we have to take care of business every day, and that’s the goal. Proud of the group. We’re going to celebrate today, the guys will be off tomorrow and will be back on Monday.”
Darnold avoids big hits to manage Seahawks offense
The Bears and Rams had to watch through their fingers as the Seahawks ran wild in front of an excited Lumen Field crowd.
Much of the preparation centered around quarterback Sam Darnold’s oblique injury, but it didn’t seem to hurt him at all. He finished 12 of 17 for 124 yards and a touchdown in an efficient performance as Seattle built its offense around its running game.
Darnold said: “A really good team win on the first snap. Kickoff, [Shaheed] taking him home was special. To hear this stadium rock like it was tonight, unbelievable, man. The 12 are out. It was fun. Our defense is doing its job. And on offense as well, ball control, I feel like that was huge for all of us and finishing in the red zone.
“I felt good, and if I had been injured, I feel like you all probably would have known. So no, I felt really good the whole match. And all the hits I took, I didn’t feel them on that side.”
Macdonald was impressed with Darnold’s game management.
“Huge,” Macdonald said of his quarterback’s performance. “There were a few plays early on that I think [it took him] to get in the movement. But I say “manage” the game as a very powerful compliment. Just throwing it on time, taking care of the ball, making the plays when we need them to. I think there will be some explosives there that we might be able to access. But hey, I thought he did a lot of things in terms of operations that really helped us too.
They got us pretty good – Shanahan
It was a disappointing end to what has been a difficult season for the Niners.
Coach Kyle Shanahan received plenty of plaudits for the way he was able to get the most out of a shorthanded team, but admitted tonight was a step too far.
He said: “Nobody played perfect. Nobody played well today. Nobody coached well today. They did pretty well for us.
“Tonight it’s a little tough. I tried to explain that to the guys. We didn’t get too caught up tonight. Like I said, I’m very proud of a lot of guys there. We’re extremely disappointed right now, but that doesn’t take away from how I feel about them right now.
“A lot of guys played this year that hadn’t played in the past, and that should help us going forward. But we’ll come Monday and we’ll sort all that out, put this game to bed and take care of all the players, and then we’ll start very quickly planning our offseason, how to build this team the best way possible to give us a chance next year.”