Seattle Road Game Is Sternest Test Yet For San Francisco 49ers, Brock Purdy

The San Francisco 49ers have the chance to win the NFC West on Thursday Night Football with a victory over the Seattle Seahawks in a game that arguably represents the sternest test of their credentials for some time and certainly marks a step up in terms of challenge for rookie quarterback Brock Purdy.

At 9-4, the Niners can claim an unassailable three-game lead over Seattle by prevailing at Lumen Field, where they famously clinched the division and the number one seed in the NFC in 2019 with a goal-line stand in the dying seconds.

All the evidence suggests they should wrap up the West with some comfort in primetime. The 49ers are on a six-game winning streak, while the Seahawks have lost three of their last four following a home defeat to the Carolina Panthers last time out.

Football Outsiders’ weighted DVOA metric, which is weighted with games earlier in the season given less importance, sees the 49ers as the best team in football at present. San Francisco is first in weighted DVOA and, though Seattle is a respectable 11th, the weakness of the Seahawks’ defense is one logic dictates the 49ers should have no problem exploiting.

The Seahawks have allowed 960 rushing yards over the course of their last five games and now face a 49er ground game that racked up 209 yards in last week’s 35-7 blowout of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

As such, 49ers star Christian McCaffrey and rookie Jordan Mason would appear to be in for hugely productive games that will allow the 49ers to control the clock and move the ball while taking the emphasis off Purdy and allowing a defense ranked first in DVOA to shackle the Seattle offense.

But games in Seattle have rarely been that simple for the 49ers who, prior to the dramatic 2019 win, had not beaten the Seahawks on the road since 2011 and failed to do so in both 2020 and 2021.

There is an argument the 49ers defeated better teams than Seattle with Purdy under center in the last two weeks in knocking off the Miami Dolphins and the Buccaneers.

Yet both those games took place in the friendly confines of Levi’s Stadium. Playing in the hostile environment of Lumen Field against a team clinging to its hopes of winning the division on a short week promises to be a much more imposing challenge.

And, on downs where he does throw the ball, it will be a mammoth test for Purdy, who is banged up having suffered an oblique injury in his excellent first start against the Buccaneers.

All things being equal, the 49ers should win this game handily and seal the NFC West title. Yet Seattle, with the help of the Seahawks’ crowd, has succeeded in consistently tilting this matchup in its favor. If Purdy, the run game and the 49er defense can prevent that from happening, then belief in a team that remains a clear Super Bowl contender despite its quarterback situation should grow even stronger.