Seattle Seahawks Week 12: Good news and bad news from the loss to the 49ers

Time for some good news for the Seahawks - just a bit

The good news is that the Seahawks actually played well in the third quarter. They more than doubled the Niners in yardage, 101 to 47. More importantly, they outscored San Francisco 10-0 and gave themselves a chance, trailing by two scores. The bad news is it all fell apart again in the fourth quarter. The Hawks failed to convert on third down twice. They couldn't move the chains on fourth down, either. Meanwhile, the 49ers had no trouble moving the sticks, mixing the run and the pass with equal effectiveness. They stretched their lead to 31-13 with nearly eight minutes to go. The Hawks mounted a long drive, but fell short on fourth down, as mentioned above.

San Francisco reached the Seattle 34-yard line with 1:15 left in the game. It's hard to believe that they wouldn't have at least come away with three more points, had they needed to score again. Instead, Brock Purdy took a knee twice, and the misery was over. Although I suppose in one sense, it had just begun. The post-mortem on games like these is always painful, especially since the season is still ongoing, it's technically a vivisection. Ouch.

The defense wasn't great, not at all. They allowed 377 total yards, 233 of that to the duo of McCaffrey and Samuel. But the Seahawks kept Purdy in check. He was just 20-31 for 209 yards, one touchdown, and an interception to match. They also shut George Kittle down; he only had 19 yards on three catches. In the past, a stat line like that meant a Seahawks win, without a doubt. Unfortunately, the Niners didn't need Kittle to win this game, and that could have been the worst news of all from the loss.

Well, the worst news other than that the team is now 6-5 and has to face the Cowboys, the 49ers again, and then the Eagles. The combined records of those teams are currently 25-7. Could Seattle beat any of them? Well, sure; they beat the 8-3 Lions as well as the 7-3 Browns. Then again, this is the team that gave the 4-6 Rams half of their wins. Our last bit of bad news is that Geno Smith says the team needs to work harder.

As Tim Weaver wrote for USA Today's Seahawks Wire, they have to work smarter, not harder. I don't think anyone who's watched the Seahawks play can say the players aren't playing hard. If they weren't, this game would have been a 50-point rout. But they do have to play smarter. If everyone from Pete Carroll down doesn't understand that yet, that's truly the worst news of all.

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