San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy is preparing for a challenging matchup against the Seattle Seahawks' defense in Saturday's NFC Divisional Round game. After a tough 13-3 loss to Seattle in Week 18, where he threw for just 127 yards and an interception, Purdy emphasized the need to earn every yard. The 49ers aim to reverse their fortunes on the road, where Purdy holds a 4-0 record against the Seahawks.
The San Francisco 49ers face the Seattle Seahawks in the NFC Divisional Round on Saturday at 8 p.m. ET, broadcast on Fox. This rubber match follows a regular-season finale where Seattle's defense, led by head coach Mike Macdonald, stifled the 49ers, holding them scoreless in the end zone and limiting them to 173 total yards—the fewest under coach Kyle Shanahan since 2017.
Purdy, who returned from a toe injury in Week 11 to spark six straight wins averaging 35.6 points, struggled in his two recent games against Seattle and Philadelphia, posting a 73.1 passer rating. He praised Macdonald's scheme: "He just does a good job of making the quarterback have to earn everything. I feel like there's not a lot of easy gimme plays out there. You have to play quarterback for four quarters, be smart with the ball and go through your progressions truly. Then on top of that, the front, how they coach up the front with the push in the pocket, playing pretty deep to short on a lot of things and not allowing you to have a lot of explosive plays across the board. You have to go earn every single yard."
Since Macdonald took over in 2024, Shanahan's offense has averaged just 18.3 points in four meetings, the lowest against any repeated opponent. Seattle employs two-deep safeties to neutralize deep passes and has slowed San Francisco's run game. Offensive coordinator Klay Kubiak acknowledged the challenge: "It's a huge challenge, but the challenge is on us. We got to run the ball better; we got to be better on third down so we can get more ops to run the ball. That's really the biggest thing is we got to stay on the field so we can keep calling runs then hopefully, you can get the defense to commit another guy in the box, which helps other things."
Despite the 7-1 record since Purdy's return—the lone loss to Seattle—the 49ers are focused on sustaining drives and exploiting opportunities. This marks the fifth time Purdy faces a Macdonald-led defense, including a four-interception loss to Baltimore in 2023.
