Seahawks won the Super Bowl. Rams QB won MVP. Can the 49ers keep pace in 2026?
Super Bowl Sunday at Levi’s Stadium was surreal in many ways.
Seattle Seahawks logos adorned the home tunnel where the 49ers typically enter the field from their locker room. The infamous “12” flag was flying around beforehand. A giant tapestry of Sam Darnold, San Francisco’s former backup quarterback, was hanging on Northeast corner of the stadium clad in Seattle’s navy blue and “action green.”
“Super Bowl LX Champions” was written on the stadium’s enormous scoreboards with graphics of Seahawks players — who celebrated the 29-13 win over the New England Patriots in the 49ers’ locker room.
The 49ers were two games away from their ultimate dream of playing in a Super Bowl in their home stadium. Of course, they were drubbed by the Seahawks in the divisional round of the playoffs, 41-6, with their slew of significant injuries dooming them after their resilient 12-5 regular season and upset win over the Philadelphia Eagles in the wild card round.
Perhaps the 49ers reach the Super Bowl next time the game comes to Santa Clara — surely the NFL wants to continue to tap nearby tech giants for corporate partnerships — at some point over the next decade or so.
But in the meantime, there’s a lot of work for coach Kyle Shanahan and his crew given the state of the NFC West, which was represented by the Seahawks and the Los Angeles Rams in the NFC title game.
Tackling the league MVP
Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford was named the NFL MVP on Thursday after leading the league in passing yards (4,707) and touchdowns (46) while L.A. finished tied with the 49ers for the second-best record in the NFC. The 38-year-old vowed to return for an encore in 2026, which means Shanahan’s defense will have its work cut out for it if San Francisco is going to win the division and get the advantage of home games in the playoffs.
The 49ers will have a new defensive coordinator next season in Raheem Morris after Robert Saleh was named the head coach of the Tennessee Titans last month.
Saleh had a remarkable year coaching his defense to respectability despite missing its two best players, Fred Warner and Nick Bosa, for a combined 25 games due to a broken ankle and torn ACL, respectively. The 49ers finished ranked 13th in yardage and 20th in points despite ranking dead last with just 20 sacks in 17 games.
Morris comes to the 49ers after two years as the Atlanta Falcons head coach. He’s a close personal friend of Shanahan; the two cut their teeth on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers staff in the early 2000s as low-level assistants. More importantly, he helped the Rams win a Super Bowl as defensive coordinator after the 2021 season, which included beating the 49ers in the NFC title game.
But it’s worth noting those Rams had elite talent on defense. Cornerback Jalen Ramsey was in his prime and named a first-team All-Pro in back-to-back seasons and tied his career-high with four interceptions for the year. Defensive lineman Aaron Donald was a first-team All-Pro for his seventh straight season, and he terrorized the interior of the 49ers’ offensive line.
The Rams never finished better than 15th in defensive scoring or 17th in yardage during Morris’ three years as defensive coordinator, but Morris’ defense received big performances from its best players en route to the Super Bowl.
Outside of keeping Bosa and Warner healthy, the 49ers will have to get better play from the rest of their defensive line, both on the edges and the interior, and get improved play at safety while Stafford shows no signs of slowing down into his late 30s.
Finding playmakers to threaten the Seahawks defense
Seattle’s league-best scoring defense exposed the 49ers’ offense during their two most important games of the season.
Shanahan’s offense went eight quarters without scoring a touchdown against the Seahawks between the pivotal Week 18 showdown and the divisional game, a span in which Seattle outscored San Francisco 54-9. The 49ers had two of their three worst yardage totals of the season in those games.
The 49ers badly need speed and playmaking on offense outside of stars Christian McCaffrey and George Kittle, which Shanahan and general manager John Lynch acknowledged in their end-of-season press conference.
The team is expected to move on from Brandon Aiyuk after going AWOL during his recovery from a torn ACL, while the team’s leaders in catches at receiver, Jauan Jennings and Kendrick Bourne, are unrestricted free agents. First-round pick Ricky Pearsall will look to take another step in his third season, but he’s missed 14 games in his first two seasons.
The 49ers also should consider trying to improve the offensive line. The Seahawks’ talented and deep defensive front dominated San Francisco’s blocking in the final two games, while McCaffrey managed just 58 rushing yards in the last two games against Seattle.
Star left tackle Trent Williams will turn 38 in July. He vowed to return next season, which means the 49ers may not need to find his replacement immediately, but they should consider making investments along the offensive line in the upcoming draft and free agency if they’re going to combat the Seahawks’ ferocious defense.
This story was originally published February 9, 2026 at 5:00 AM.
