49ers may be shorthanded in rematch vs. Seattle

The San Francisco 49ers enter their week 11 rematch against the Seattle Seahawks with more question marks than they’d like. Their injury report contains three of their biggest stars and beating a team like Seattle without them would be a daunting task. San Francisco has been dealing with injuries all season long, but not having guys like Nick Bosa, George Kittle, and Trent Williams would undoubtedly hurt their chances.

This matchup between Seattle and San Francisco is hugely important to the fates of both teams going forward. If Seattle loses this game, they’d effectively plummet in the NFC West standings. If the San Francisco 49ers lose, they could potentially be staring down a 5-7 record in a couple of weeks given that their next two games would be on the road against the Packers and Bills.

San Francisco’s Injuries

The San Francisco 49ers are already entering this week shorthanded without their star cornerback, Charvarius Ward. They’re also missing their punter, Mitch Wishnowksy, due to a back injury, so just those two injuries alone, make this game drastically harder for San Fran. However, what’s even worse for them is potentially not having three of their most valuable players Nick Bosa, George Kittle, and Trent Williams.

All three are labeled as questionable, with varying degrees of concern surrounding their ability to actually play on Sunday. George Kittle and Nick Bosa have both been limited in practice all week, so the expectation should be for them to play. However, it’s a different story for the San Francisco 49ers all-pro left tackle. Trent Williams did not practice this week due to an ankle injury and this should raise a lot of concern for the 49ers.

Since Trent Williams joined the 49ers in 2020, they have not played well offensively in games that he’s missed. In the nine games, Williams has missed since joining the Niners, they have a 3-6 record and averaged just 21.6 points per game offensively. That’s a drop-off of five points per game compared to when he’s been on the field for the San Francisco 49ers. Even at his old age, Trent Williams is arguably San Francisco’s most essential offensive player.

Seattle’s Health

Comparatively, the Seattle Seahawks enter San Francisco healthier than they’ve been in a while. D.K. Metcalf is slated to return after missing the last three weeks with a knee injury sustained in week 7. While Metcalf hasn’t been dominant against the San Francisco 49ers defense in quite a while, he is matchup up against them without their star corner in Charvarius Ward, so that should open up more opportunities for him in the passing game.

They’re also slated to get back starting tackle, Abraham Lucas, who has been out all season with a knee injury. He will be a welcome addition back to what has been arguably the worst offensive line in the NFL this season. However, the Seahawks didn’t leave this week completely unscathed. Their starting center, Connor Williams, opted to retire earlier this week after seven grueling years in the NFL.

Seattle is also hoping for two of their key pieces on the defensive line Leonard Williams and Jarran Reed to be available Sunday as both were limited on Friday. If the Seahawks can get that one-two-punch of Williams and Reed back, while the Niners may not get Trent Williams back, this could swing the entire game in Seattle’s favor.

The Line of Scrimmage

With Seattle getting healthier on both sides of the line of scrimmage, this week’s matchup should not be as lopsided as it was back in week 6. The Niners ran for 223 yards against Seattle without Christian McCaffrey. With him back, it could make it much harder for Seattle to defend the run. However, with Jarran Reed and Leonard Williams hopeful to stay healthy, it will be significantly harder to run the football versus Seattle.

As for the San Francisco 49ers defensive line, if Nick Bosa plays, they should still get a ton of pressure on Geno Smith. Maybe not quite as dominant as they were back in week 6 when they pressured Geno on almost every other passing snap, but they should still win the line of scrimmage defensively more often than not. If Bosa doesn’t play, that opens up the floodgates for Seattle’s passing attack. And with Ward out as well, this could get ugly for San Francisco on defense.

Final Thoughts

The San Francisco 49ers better hope they are close to healthy on Sunday; otherwise, they may very well lose against Seattle. The Seahawks are fresh off a bye week, giving them two weeks to prepare for every strength and weakness of this 49ers team. If the 49ers can have Nick Bosa, George Kittle, and Trent Williams ready to go by Sunday, they should win this game handily. If they can’t, then they are in a lot of trouble.