Week 2 Game Preview: 49ers vs Seahawks

By Scooter_McG

There's no such thing as a must win game in week 2, but there is also no doubting the 49ers find themselves under as much pressure as any team to come away with a victory this week. 

The 49ers are Super Bowl hopefuls coming off a bad loss in Chicago week 1. This week they take on the division rival Seahawks that most pundits expect to be bottom of the division (and one of the worst teams in the NFL) in 2022. And the team then heads into games against other expected Super Bowl contenders in the Broncos and Rams in weeks 3 and 4. 

A loss here would put the team in a hole early with some tough matchups coming up on the schedule. It would also place a lot of focus and scrutiny on the 49ers QB situation. 

So while it isn't a must win game... it is an important one to win and get the 49ers season moving in the right direction.

Unfortunately it looks like the 49ers may need to do it without George Kittle again in week 2. A lot has been made about how important Jimmy G was to the 49ers success in recent years, but you only need to see the 49ers record in the past 10 games Kittle has missed (2 wins/ 8 losses) to realise the importance of Kittle to the offense. His combination of excellent receiving and blocking provides a mismatch almost every snap and helps create a lot of opportunities for big plays.  

Making matters more interesting, the forecast is for another wet football game. Last week the weather played its part in levelling the playing field and it has the potential to again help bridge some of the talent gap between the two rosters. The only positives are that the 49ers now have experience in wet weather and the conditions are not expected to be as bad as last week.

In terms of the matchups, this is where I see the game being won or lost: 

• First and foremost - discipline. The 49ers simply can't afford to make as many mistakes as they made last week, both in terms of penalties and in terms of errors. The mantra this week should be "don't beat ourselves". On paper the 49ers have the better roster and if they play a clean game they should have the horses to win. 
• Get after Geno and the inexperienced Seahawks OL for four quarters. The 49ers pass rush was dominating the game against the Bears in the first half. Fields looked lost the entire half as he had no time to sit back and process. But in the second half the DL looked gassed. Part of that comes down to penalties extending Bears drives, part comes down to the offense not giving them sufficient time to recover, but a part I believe also comes down to early season conditioning and a wet field that resulted in some tired legs. This week they get to go against two rookie OTs, and while the interior has more experience there is nobody on the Seahawks OL that is an established, dominant player. The 49ers pass rush should dominate them in the early going when fresh, but need to find a way to keep it going across four quarters.
• Stop the Seahawks WRs. Obviously if the DL is making life difficult for Geno throughout the game that will have a big hand in stopping what the Seahawks WRs can do, but the WR group is probably the strength of their team and the 49ers secondary will need to be on their game. The Ward/ Moseley matchup against Metcalf/ Lockett should be a good one, and winning that matchup could go a long way to deciding the game.
• Getting the 49ers running game going. This is a key to the 49ers season really. With the inexperienced Lance at QB it will be important every week that the team has a good running game to take some of the pressure off Lance. But with Mitchell getting hurt in week 1, the rest of the RB group and the OL need to step up and make sure the offense doesn't miss a beat. 
• YAC attack. The other area on offense that I think could be a key to victory is getting the playmakers the ball in space to create yards after the catch. This is a staple of a Shanahan offense and an area the 49ers have excelled in recent seasons, but remains something of a question mark with Lance at QB. Can Lance consistently deliver the ball to his playmakers in stride and in space? TBD.