From there, the Seahawks couldn’t muster much on offense as Smith was uncharacteristically inaccurate, including a misfire over Jaxon Smith-Njigba on an out route on third-and-3 in the second quarter, resulting in a punt by Michael Dickson led. On their next three possessions, they moved the ball 30 net yards and scored all three times without getting past midfield. They also lost a possession when receiver Laviska Shenault deflected a kickoff and the 49ers recovered and turned the loss into another Wright field goal.

Smith salvaged an otherwise terrible half on offense, pulling off a late field goal drive within two minutes, but the Seahawks were unable to capitalize on three plays from the 49ers’ two-yard line, including DK Metcalf’s only a few inches away was a touchdown on third-and-goal.

Sandwiched between these turnovers, Seattle’s defense also made many mistakes, giving up a 37-yard run to Jordan Mason on the first drive, set up by Wright’s first field goal. Two drives later, safety Julian Love appeared to be fooled by an underthrown pass from Brock Purdy and used a poor angle to cover a deep ball to Deebo Samuel, failing the tackle attempt and leading to a 77-yard touchdown pass.

Overall, the 49ers outscored the Seahawks 244 to 133 at halftime, doubling their lead, with both teams converting just three third downs. If there’s a silver lining, it’s that most of that extra yardage came via Samuel’s long touchdown, and otherwise the defense limited the opposition to three field goals and prevented them from reaching the end zone on two red zone trips keeping them within striking distance with two quarters remaining.