Seahawks Clinch NFC West and No. 1 Seed With 13-3 Win Over 49ers

SANTA CLARA, Calif.—After Sam Darnold took a knee for the third time, and Seahawks players rushed onto the field, what had been evident throughout Saturday night’s game became official.

The Seahawks are the best team in the NFC.

Thanks to a dominant defensive performance and a strong ground game, the Seahawks controlled the game throughout on their way to 13-3 win over the 49ers.

With the win, the Seahawks improve to 14-3 and are the NFC West champs, as well as the conference’s No. 1 overall seed.

Here are six rapid reactions to Saturday night’s win:

1. The road to the Super Bowl goes through Seattle.

With Saturday’s win at Levi’s Stadium, the Seahawks drastically helped their chances of coming back here for the Super Bowl.

With a 14-3 record, the best regular-season mark in team history, the Seahawks are NFC West champs and they also earned a first-round by and the conference’s No. 1 seed.

In each of the three previous instances that the Seahawks were the top seed, 2005, 2013 and 2014, they used homefield advantage to get to the Super Bowl.