Saturday will be Purdy’s fifth game against a Macdonald-led defense — the first coming on Christmas Eve 2023, when Purdy threw four interceptions in a 33-19 loss to Baltimore.
Since Macdonald became the Seahawks’ head coach in 2024, Shanahan’s offense has averaged just 18.3 points per game in four starts, the fewest of the 16 head coaches Shanahan has faced at least three times, including playoff games.
In their last meeting, Seattle held the Niners to three points, Shanahan’s fewest in a game since Week 1, 2017, and 173 total yards, the lowest of the coach’s career. Seattle has been able to slow down the 49ers’ running game while playing two deep safeties to pick off deep passes.
“It’s a big challenge, but the challenge is on us,” Niners offensive coordinator Klay Kubiak said. “We’ve got to run the ball better; we’ve got to be better on third down so we can get more action to run the ball. That’s really the biggest thing is we’ve got to be on the field so we can continue to call runs, then hopefully you can get the defense to commit another man in the box, which helps other things.”
The 49ers are 7-1 since Purdy returned from an injury that knocked out the middle of his campaign. The only loss came in Week 18 to the Seahawks. From Weeks 11-17, he posted a 111.5 passer rating, but has just a 73.1 passer rating over his last two tilts against Seattle and Philadelphia.
Purdy is 4-0 on the road against the Seahawks in his career, tied for the longest streak by a Seattle QB at any point in his career since beginning with Hall of Famer Dan Fouts.