Seattle Seahawks Beat San Francisco 49ers 23–17, Heading to the Super Bowl

Seattle Seahawks Beat San Francisco 49ers 23–17, Heading to the Super Bowl
Running back Marshawn Lynch #24 of the Seattle Seahawks scores a 40-yard touchdown against cornerback Tramaine Brock #26 of the San Francisco 49ers in the third quarter during the 2014 NFC Championship at CenturyLink Field in Seattle, Washington, January 19, 2014. Ronald Martinez/Getty Images
Chris Jasurek
Updated:

The NFC Championship game between the Seattle Seahawks and the San Francisco 49ers came down to which team’s defense could prevent the most big plays, which team’s offense could eke out a few first downs, and ultimately it came down to the final two minutes when 49ers QB Colin Kaepernick had a chance to win—or lose—the game.

The second half of the Seattle/San Francisco game was a grinding defensive struggle, and as those sorts of games often do, the outcome revolved around a few big plays. Whether Colin Kaepernick or Russell Wilson could engineer the most breakout plays to exploit the occasional flaw in the opponent’s defense made the difference.

Here Seattle had the edge, as almost all of San Francisco’s attack depended mostly on Colin Kaepernick, while Seattle got more help from running backs and wide receivers and kick returners.

Equally important proved to be which team’s quarterback made the fewest devastating errors.

The Seattle Seahawks defense got stronger in the second half of the game, while San Francisco’s got more tired. In the end Colin Kaepernick could not single-handedly win the game—in fact, for everything her did to win it, he did more to lose it.

Colin Kaepernick’s 58-yard scramble in the first half set up the 49er’s first touchdown. Marshawn Lynch’s 40-yard blast in the third quarter tied the game. Kaepernick came right back with a 22-yard run and a 26-yard scoring pass.

Doug Baldwin responded with a 69-yard kickoff return to give Seattle good field position, but once again San Francisco held them to a field goal.

San Francisco’s next drive ended in a three-and-out with a questionable Running Into the Kicker (versus Roughing the Kicker) call which would have been a first down. This gave Seattle good field position, which for the first time all night paid off.

The 49ers defense worked just as hard, chasing Russell Wilson all over the field and forcing an intentional grounding call. A 15-yard pass led Seattle’s coach to try to convert on fourth-and seven-set which proved to be an excellent decision, as Russell found Jermaine Kearse in the end zone with a 45-yard touchdown pass, giving Seattle the lead 20–17.

Quarterback Colin Kaepernick #7 of the San Francisco 49ers loses the ball against defensive end Michael Bennett #72 of the Seattle Seahawks in the third quarter during the 2014 NFC Championship. (Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
Quarterback Colin Kaepernick #7 of the San Francisco 49ers loses the ball against defensive end Michael Bennett #72 of the Seattle Seahawks in the third quarter during the 2014 NFC Championship. Christian Petersen/Getty Images
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