‘Frustrated and Disappointed’ 49ers Fall to…

Death, taxes and the San Francisco 49ers and Seattle Seahawks having a crazy finish seem to be the only guarantees in life and Week 13 was no different. There were several momentum swings in the game followed by a number of errors and miscues for both teams that ultimately handed Seattle its fourth win of the season, and dropped the 49ers record back to .500.

“I know we’re all disappointed, very frustrated,” head coach Kyle Shanahan said postgame. “We felt we had a lot of self-inflicted stuff that is always caused by other teams so I’m not taking anything away from them. But I thought we had an opportunity at the beginning of the game. We were really ready to go.

“I felt like it went about an hour, it seemed like, where we barely had the ball, which was our fault. It was just frustrating. I was glad the guys, no matter how many bad things happened, they kept fighting (and) never quit.”

Here are a few takeaways from the 49ers 30-23 loss in Seattle.

Hot Defensive Start, Cooler Finish

The 49ers might have been without several key players on defense, but the unit was stout for the majority of the first half. Not including Seattle’s fake punt for a touchdown to open the game, the 49ers defense allowed just seven yards on 15 plays in the first quarter, including -10 yards passing.

D.J. Jones was a highlight of the day. In the first half, he notched a big run stop against Adrian Peterson and on the following play, he forced a fumble against Gerald Everett that was recovered by Emmanuel Moseley. The turnover led to a wide-open George Kittle touchdown in the back of the end zone on the very next play.

Jones was also key in assisting Arik Armstead in a Russell Wilson sack, his third of the season.

Seattle didn’t notch their first, first down of the game until midway through the second quarter. That drive cut San Francisco’s 17-7 lead to just three points following a Peterson 1-yard touchdown.

Nick Bosa also recorded a strip sack against Wilson for a loss of 23 yards, marking is 12th sack of the season.

Arden Key (0.5) and Jordan Willis (1.0) also recorded sacks on the day.

Although the feel of the game would tell a different story, San Francisco’s defense managed to hold Seattle to just 7 points in the second half.

Turnovers, Turnovers, Turnovers

Fortunately for San Francisco, not all of their three giveaways resulted in points. The first, an intercepted pass intended for Trent Sherfield that landed in the arms of linebacker Bobby Wagner ended in a missed field goal attempt. On a kickoff return to open the second half, fullback Nick Bellore forced a fumble on a Travis Benjamin return that ended in a juggled would-be touchdown at the goal line that was intercepted by K’Waun Williams.

The third turnover of the game came by way of an intercepted pass by Quandre Diggs. With possession inside of 49ers territory, Wilson orchestrated a 5-play, 28-yard drive that resulted in a Tyler Lockett touchdown to re-take the lead.

Conversely, the 49ers came up with some crucial takeaways of their own. In addition to the aforementioned interception and fumble recovery, one of the biggest of the day was another forced fumble by Azeez Al-Shaair near the goal line to put the game out of reach for San Francisco. The linebacker’s helmet knocked the ball loose from Everett’s arms at the 49ers 2 yard line, which was recovered by Dontae Johnson.

The 49ers offense managed to march down the field 95 yards with two minutes on the clock but failed to find the end zone after a batted down pass on 4th-and-goal.