SANTA CLARA, Calif. — This time, the victory cigars were the perfect party favor.
It was only two years ago that the Seattle Seahawks puffed on stogies in the visiting locker room after their 2023 regular-season finale. But not every player participated. Some didn’t feel that simply making it through the season was worth celebrating, given Seattle missed the playoffs despite that win in Arizona. Players from the previous era of Seahawks football publicly lamented the decision.
By the time the media entered the Seahawks’ postgame shindig following a 13-3 win over the San Francisco 49ers on Saturday night at Levi’s Stadium, the cigar box next to center Jalen Sundell’s locker was empty. All the lighters and cutters were gone, too. Smoke filled the room. Rap music bounced off the walls. Selfies were snapped. Anti-San Francisco sentiments were shouted.
The party was on. For real this time.
“This time, all our hard work, everything from the first day of camp until now, it’s paying off,” said Seattle cornerback Riq Woolen, who participated in the cigar smoking two years ago but was even happier to do it Saturday, wearing an NFC West championship hat.
“The culture is paying off. Guys are bought in. It’s an all-out great team win. I’m happy. I’m proud. I can’t even talk right now, bruh.”
Several players struggled to put Saturday night’s accomplishment into words. So, here are some numbers instead: Seattle finished the regular season 14-3, its best regular-season win total in franchise history. It won the NFC West for the first time since 2020. The Seahawks have home-field advantage throughout the playoffs for the fourth time in franchise history and the first since 2014; Seattle reached the Super Bowl each of the past three times it was the NFC’s top seed.
“I don’t want today to end,” said defensive tackle Leonard Williams, an 11-year veteran in his third season with the Seahawks. “It’s incredible. This is the closest team I’ve ever been on.”
A run game that was mediocre most of the season has hit its stride. Rare hiccups by kicker Jason Myers aside, Seattle’s special teams units are tough to deal with. The Seahawks’ defense is even tougher and arguably the best in the NFL. Now teams will have to deal with all that at Lumen Field to reach the mountaintop. If it sounds like a tall task, that’s because it is.
“Hell yeah, it is,” defensive tackle Byron Murphy II said. “Real tough.”
The Seahawks swear their secret sauce is more than just a combination of scheme and talent. They attribute it to a level of connectedness unlike anything they have ever experienced. From the shadowboxing sensation that has taken over the locker room and organically led to interactions between guys on opposite sides of the ball, to the walk-and-talk sessions they conduct to get to know teammates from other position groups.
It all created a familial bond so strong that even though he couldn’t breathe because of all the smoke in the air, Williams was among the last guys to leave the locker room.
“My excitement and joy was taking over the smoke in my eyes and not being able to breathe,” he said.
Connectedness is hard to measure, but the way Seattle handled the 49ers is instructive. Last Sunday, 49ers cornerback Deommodore Lenoir called out Seattle receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba, asking to guard the NFL’s receiving leader one-on-one. Smith-Njigba heard it but didn’t respond. He doesn’t care about individual matchups. He cares about his teammates.
“That’s why I put my helmet on, I strap my shoulder pads up and I go play for them,” said Smith-Njigba, who led all players with six catches for 84 yards. “It takes a lot of weight off my shoulders. It takes my mind off of, ‘Let me get 100 yards and a TD.’ No, let me go out there and block for (Ken Walker III) and get receivers open and do whatever I need to do for these guys. They mean the world to me.”
The sentiment expressed by Smith-Njigba is consistent throughout the team, the defense in particular. The 49ers’ offense had been one of the best in the league since Brock Purdy’s return in Week 11. It just hung 42 on the Bears six days ago. But it had nothing for a Seattle defense that can run, hit and cover with the best of them.
“In big games, critical moments, that doubt leaves the room because we know each other so well,” Williams said.
Purdy completed 19 of 27 passes for 127 yards and was intercepted by linebacker Drake Thomas near the goal line. Seattle went the entire season without allowing a 100-yard rusher. The latest victim was Christian McCaffrey, who had just 23 yards on eight attempts. San Francisco had 173 total yards, its fewest in a regular-season game since Kyle Shanahan became head coach in 2017.
“We just run and hit, continue to do what we do and show that we’re the best defense in the league,” said outside linebacker Derick Hall, who had a sack and a thunderous quarterback hit on Purdy that ended the game. In his return from a one-game suspension for stepping on Rams guard Kevin Dotson, Hall led Seattle with three quarterback hits.
“He plays like a hammer,” Williams said of Hall. “We call him the battering ram of the defense.”
Seattle’s defense is not elite because one or two players wreck the game every week. It’s the opposite: The defense is designed so anyone can be the star of the day.
None of Seattle’s tackles for loss, sacks or turnovers was produced by one of its three Pro Bowlers. Instead, the tackles for loss came from defensive backs Nick Emmanwori and Woolen; the sacks were produced by Hall, defensive tackle Jarran Reed and outside linebacker Uchenna Nwosu; and the play of the day came from Thomas, who picked off a Purdy pass that McCaffrey juggled on second-and-goal from the 6 in the fourth quarter. An assist goes to outside linebacker Boye Mafe, who batted the ball at the line.
“When Drake got that pick,” Murphy said, “I feel like it just broke their spirit.”
Thomas’ interception was the only turnover of the game, and it preserved Seattle’s 13-3 lead with 10:21 remaining. The Seahawks’ offense responded with its best drive of the night: a 16-play, 94-yard series that bled eight minutes off the clock. Quarterback Sam Darnold converted a pair of third downs with throws of 5 and 24 yards to Cooper Kupp, and Walker and Zach Charbonnet combined to run for three first downs.
“Sam led us today,” Smith-Njigba said of Darnold, who completed 20 of 26 passes for 198 yards and, most notably, had zero turnovers. “His demeanor. His approach. Everything about what he did today was great. Of course, there’s always things to fix, but just from the time we got here yesterday and the way he prepared all week to make sure his guys were ready is ‘one of one’ stuff. Super happy for him.”
The eight-minute drive ended with a missed field goal, but it didn’t matter because San Francisco took over with 2:20 left and no timeouts. Both teams knew it was over at that point. If you needed visual evidence, all you had to do was look at the Seahawks’ bench, where several defensive backs were standing up and waving goodbye to the 49ers fans in the lower bowl.
“Happy to have a Seahawk on my helmet and beat those guys,” Smith-Njigba said. “It’s war every time we’re out there. I take it very seriously. I’m happy we got them.”
Equally important as the victory is how the team handled business Saturday. When head coach Mike Macdonald hired Klint Kubiak to coordinate the offense, he wanted a physical brand of ball, led by a dominant run game. Seattle instead spent most of the season winning games because Darnold and Smith-Njigba were prolific. The results were great, but Saturday felt more like the style Macdonald has been seeking.
Walker (97 yards) and Charbonnet (74 yards) combined for at least 130 yards for the third consecutive week. They averaged 5.2 yards per carry and had nine first downs. Seattle spent most of the game under center, with either two tight ends or a fullback on the field, running the ball straight through the 49ers’ defense.
“It feels awesome, the fact we were able to do what we’re grounded in, which is run the ball and play defense and do it in all three phases,” Sundell said. “It feels like everything is coming together.”
Smith-Njigba was a rookie when Seattle had its awkward cigar-smoking session in the Cardinals’ visiting locker room. He didn’t participate. On Saturday, the door to the locker room swung open, and he emerged wearing shades and a custom diamond necklace while puffing his first-ever cigar.
When asked why, Smith-Njigba’s answer was simple: It was the perfect time.
