San Francisco 49ers: Loss to Seattle Ends Season, but Silver Linings Abound

The San Francisco 49ers fell again to the Seattle Seahawks and are mathematically eliminated from the playoffs.  That’s the headline, and anything else taken from Sunday’s 17-7 loss is, by its very nature, secondary.  It is the first time the 49ers have missed the playoffs in the Jim Harbaugh era, and if you are to believe the rumors circulating the team, it will also be the last.

Once you get past the headlines, however, and admit that this season was done the moment the 49ers lost to the Oakland Raiders last weekend, you can see some silver linings in this effort against the Seahawks.  The effort, despite mounting injuries, was much-improved.

Elaine Thompson/Associated Press

In the first half, the 49ers looked the best they had since before Thanksgiving and arguably since the bye week.  The defense was back to its suffocating self, and the 11-play, 85-yard touchdown drive by the offense was possibly the 49ers’ best drive since the New Orleans Saints game.

The 49ers were getting gashing runs on the ground, with Carlos Hyde especially shining.  They found success running behind their bruising left tackle and left guard.  When you have a duo like Joe Staley and Mike Iupati, those guys have to be the focus of your running game, and they delivered in spades.

The success on the ground helped Colin Kaepernick as well.  Kaepernick wasn’t asked to throw as much in the first half, and when he was asked, he played well—he was 7-of-10 for 113 yards, which is almost as many yards as he threw in the first matchup between the two teams.

Then, the injuries started piling up.  The running game was decimated, with both Frank Gore and Carlos Hyde leaving with injuries.  That left just Alfonso Smith at running back, and he’s essentially just a warm body on the NFL level.  That shut down the 49ers' rushing game; 49ers running backs had just 10 yards on the ground for the rest of the game.

That, in turn, stopped the 49ers' passing game from going anywhere.  With the offense forced to become one-dimensional, the Legion of Boom was able to key in on Colin Kaepernick.  Kaepernick was just 4-of-9 for 28 yards in the second half as the offense sputtered to a halt.

Elaine Thompson/Associated Press

That final stat line—11-of-19 for 141 yards—is still Kaepernick’s best day against Seattle ever: It’s his first turnover-free game against the Seahawks in six starts and more yards than two of his other previous starts. 

It’s hyperbole of the highest order to say “Kaepernick’s back!” after what was essentially one half’s worth of production, but you have to acknowledge his best passing day in nearly a month and his best ever against his bitter rivals to the north.

The defense also faded in the second half, but that could be expected as the Curse of the Inside Linebackers continued.  Both Chris Borland and Michael Wilhoite had to leave the game with injuries, leaving the 49ers with Nick Moody and occasionally Antoine Bethea playing middle linebacker. 

It’s no surprise, then, that Seattle was able to run on the 49ers in the second half; that’s a huge presence to lose.  If there was any doubt left that Borland is one of the 49ers’ most valuable players, the difference in the run defense between the two halves should erase it.

The 49ers also lost Garrett Celek and Ahmad Brooks for portions of the game.  They just were too beat up to hang with the Seahawks in the second half.

The bottom line is, unlike the previous losses to Seattle and Oakland, it didn’t feel like the 49ers gave up in this game.  It felt like they were competing with a chance to win until a pair of fourth-down stops late in the fourth quarter.  The Seahawks were clearly the better team on the day, but the 49ers squad that played this week would crush either of the two from the last two games.

That’s not to say 49ers fans should be happy at the outcome of the game; double-digit underdogs or not, any loss to a tough divisional rival should hurt some.  If you’re rating the losses against one another, however, this has to feel better than either of the last two weeks.

Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images

So, with the 49ers now playing out the string, where do they go from here?  This won’t be like the last time the 49ers were mathematically eliminated from the playoffs; I find it highly doubtful that the 49ers would fire Jim Harbaugh with two games left on the schedule. 

If they do go in another direction, they’ll hope to get some value from him in trade, and anyway, putting a new coach in when the next game is on Saturday is a very difficult challenge.

There might be some thought of tanking the last two games to improve draft position, but that would probably do more harm than good in the long term.  It’s more important to get some spark going on offense, something to build on going into next year, than moving up a slot or two in the middle of the draft order.

Hopefully, from here on out, we’ll see more of the key young players for next season. 

While Frank Gore should certainly remain the starter for what might be his last home game in a 49ers uniform in Week 17, Carlos Hyde should get more of the carries going forward.  Maybe we can see Aaron Lynch start across from Aldon Smith at outside linebacker and Bruce Ellington and Quinton Patton get more reps in the passing game.

That’s probably more Week 17 territory than next week against the San Diego Chargers, again thanks to the short week, but it needs to be a consideration going forward.  It’s time to see which players will contribute in 2015.

As for the draft, the 49ers sit with the 14th pick at time of writing, thanks to their 7-7 record and strength of schedule.  Mathematically, they can end up with anything between the seventh and 20th overall picks with Nos. 12-19 being the sweet-spot range at this point.

Mark Zaleski/Associated Press

You want to get more specific than that?  If the 49ers lose out and go to 7-9 they’ll probably be in the 12-14 range.  Last year, that produced Odell Beckham Jr, Aaron Donald and Kyle Fuller.  If they win out and finish at 9-7, we’re likely talking 19th or 20th, which produced Ja’Wuan James and Brandin Cooks in the last draft.

At the beginning of the season, the thought of looking at draft position with two games left in the regular season would have been practically unthinkable.  It is definitely a major disappointment in a year that’s been full of them so far for San Francisco.

All this team wants for Christmas is a little organizational stability and a plan for 2015.  Sadly, that will probably have to wait until the new year.  At least the team is going down fighting as opposed to the whimper we had seen in the previous two weeks.

Bryan Knowles is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report, covering the San Francisco 49ers.  Follow him @BryKno on Twitter.