If you think the Faithful are bitter about the Seattle Seahawks crashing their home stadium for Super Bowl LX, just think how they’ll feel when they win it.
Seattle had the look of a champion Sunday with a 31-27 win over the Los Angeles Rams at Lumen Field in the NFC Championship Game, and the Rams weren’t far behind.
As for their opponent, the New England Patriots, it’s hard to know exactly what to expect after a 10-7 win over the host Denver Broncos in the AFC Championship Game. The day’s early offering was decided by snow and an ill-fated decision by Broncos coach Sean Payton before the weather took over and dominated both sides for the rest of the game.
If you’re a 49ers fan, it’s impressive and depressing at the same time. Impressive because your team somehow won 13 games and would likely be pretty competitive with either the Patriots or Broncos. Depressing because they aren’t even in the same stratosphere with the Seahawks and Rams.
Based on the way the Rams played a Seattle team that thoroughly dominated the 49ers 13-3 in Week 18 and 41-6 in the divisional playoff round, there’s a significant gap in the NFC West between the top two teams and where the 49ers are located at No. 3.
Seattle and Los Angeles played three times, with the Rams winning 21-19 and the Seahawks winning 38-37 and 31-27. The biggest thing that kept the Rams from Levi’s was a muffed punt by Xavier Smith at the 17-yard line that set up a touchdown strike on the ensuing play to Jake Bobo and a 24-13 lead.
The Rams fought back, but it was the mistake they couldn’t overcome. The teams are virtually dead even.
It’s one thing to tout culture and chemistry to as the reason for surprising success. It’s another to be on the same plane as teams that also have culture and chemistry but are better at locating talent and at least equal when it comes to coaching. There’s not much to choose from between Seattle’s Mike Macdonald, the Rams’ Sean McVay and the 49ers’ Kyle Shanahan.
The 49ers beat the Rams 26-23 in overtime behind Mac Jones in early October, a win that ranks with their 42-38 win over Chicago and wild-card win over Philadelphia as the highlights of the season.
It’s not that hard to envision Brock Purdy, given the proper support, thriving in shootouts with the likes of Sam Darnold of Seattle and Matthew Stafford of the Rams. He is in their realm as both a playmaker and processor of information in running an offense.
As for everywhere else — the trenches on both sides, wide receivers, the secondary as a whole — the 49ers don’t belong in the Super Bowl this year, even if it is being held at their own stadium.
The last two times the 49ers played Seattle, they gained 409 yards in eight quarters and scored nine points. The last two times the Rams played the Seahawks, they gained 1,060 yards in eight quarters plus and overtime and scored 64 points.
A few thoughts on the championship Sunday and what to expect going into Super Bowl LX, with much of the festivities in San Francisco with the teams residing in the South Bay and practicing locally at Stanford and San Jose State:
New England quarterback Drake Maye hands the ball off in a snowstorm in a 10-7 AFC title game win against Denver. A.P. PhotoDarnold and Drake
Not exactly the quarterback duel you were expecting back in September? If Seattle wins, Darnold sheds whatever unkind labels that have been attached to him ever since he was sentenced to an early purgatory with the New York Jets and Carolina Panthers. He completed 25 and 36 passes for 346 yards and three touchdowns, had no turnovers and outplayed presumptive MVP Stanford by a razor-thin margin.
As for New England’s Drake Maye, also an MVP candidate, he threw for all of 86 yards in a borderline blizzard but had 65 yards worth of scrambles.
Neither quarterback is one to go much behind “taking it one game at a time” and extolling the virtues of their teammates. They’ll do it endlessly during Super Bowl week. It was learned in CBS production meetings Maye, a Carolina Panthers fan as a kid, traveled to Levi’s Stadium at age 13 with his father for the Panthers’ 24-10 loss to Denver in Super Bowl 50 a decade ago.
Twice, Maye was asked about it postgame. Once by Tracy Wolfson, once by Jim Nantz. He basically gave a non-answer. He might want to get a little more creative because he’s going to be asked about it at least 50 times in the days ahead.
Goal-line history
The only time Seattle and New England met in the championship game was Super Bowl LXIX in Glendale, Arizona. The Seahawks famously attempted a pass from the 1-yard line on second down with 26 seconds to play instead of giving the ball to power back Marshawn Lynch.
Malcolm Butler intercepted Russell Wilson’s pass and New England won 28-24. Hopefully the game can have that kind of drama. The first Levi’s Super Bowl saw Denver defensively dominate Carolina and quarterback Cam Newton, who was so discombobulated he didn’t even pursue his own fumble.
The outdoor conundrum
I get it. Football is played in the elements. Lombardi and the Packers, the Ice Bowl, Jerry Kramer and Bart Starr, etc. But imagine you’ve sacrificed for an entire season for a shot to get to the Super Bowl and you’re playing in a snow drift.
We still don’t really know whether the Broncos (15-4) or Patriots (16-3) are the class of the AFC. Had Payton of the Broncos taken a chip-shot field goal early in the game before the weather took over — Denver failed on fourth-and-1 — it could have been the Broncos returning to Levi’s.
The Patriot way
Coach Mike Vrabel operates in a much more personable way than Bill Belichick. But he’s done something Belichick never did: get to the Super Bowl without Tom Brady as his quarterback. It’s come largely on the strength of a defense that in three postseason games has given up two touchdowns and four field goals against 37 offensive possessions by the Chargers, Texans and Broncos.
We’ll find out if that’s legitimate with Seattle up next, because the Chargers and Houston were pretty bad offensively and Denver was in borderline unplayable conditions.
A longtime Patriots’ strength under Belichick was taking the opposing team’s top weapon away. Good luck doing that with Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who caught 10 passes for 153 yards and a touchdown in 12 targets against the Rams.
The ones that got away
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Seattle got Rashid Shaheed for fourth- and sixth-round draft picks in November. Shaheed had the game-opening 95-yard kickoff return against the 49ers and had a 51-yard downfield strike from Darnold in the title game. They don’t currently have a speedster on the roster, unless you’re counting rookie Jordan Watkins.
I don’t think either player would have made a difference as it pertains to this year, given the wide gulf between the 49ers and their NFC West foes, but it gives an idea of the kinds of players John Lynch and the personnel department should be seeking in free agency.
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