The 49ers have the Seahawks' number again and get back to .500 with a win

After a 2-3 start to the season, there shouldn't have been much concern about the San Francisco 49ers. Despite a few losses, they were clearly still one of the best teams in football.

Things aren't quite perfect for the 49ers, and injuries have a lot to do with it. But don't think San Francisco has lost much.

The 49ers put together a dominant first-half performance against the Seattle Seahawks, briefly let the Seahawks back into the game in the second half, but ultimately closed the door and defeated their NFC West rival again. George Kittle scored twice, Deebo Samuel Sr. scored a long touchdown and the defense threw a huge interception in the fourth quarter to lead to a 36-24 victory. The 49ers are back at .500 after the win.

In an ideal world, if San Francisco hadn't let Seattle back into the game, it would still have an undefeated record and be the talk of the NFL. This start was not ideal. But the 49ers are still pretty good.

The 49ers take an early lead

One of the reasons the Seahawks made the somewhat surprising decision to end the Pete Carroll era was because they had been overrun by the 49ers over the last few seasons. There was more that went into the decision, but the complete uncompetitiveness against its NFC West rival weighed on the franchise. They have lost five straight games, including playoffs, to the 49ers over the last two seasons and none of them have been competitive.

New Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald had many of the same issues Thursday night.

The game started well for the Seahawks. They pushed deep into 49ers territory. But then Geno Smith badly missed a throw that was blocked by safety Malik Mustapha. That was the first sign of distress.

The 49ers were forced back at their own 3-yard line after that interception, but they drove 90 yards. The 49ers settled for a field goal at the end of the drive — execution in the red zone was perhaps the only thing San Francisco didn't do well in the first half on Thursday — but the drive was all too familiar. The 49ers pushed the Seahawks around as usual.

The first half and the beginning of the second half went like this. Kittle's first touchdown gave the 49ers a 23-3 lead early in the third quarter. But this 49ers team, which has already blown two fourth-quarter leads in losses this season, needed to make things interesting again.

The Seahawks get back into it

The 49ers offense moved the ball easily except in the red zone. The defense was all over the field and hit everything in blue very hard. It was San Francisco's special teams that got the Seahawks back into the game.

After the 49ers seemingly took an insurmountable 23-3 lead, Laviska Shenault Jr. took a kickoff 97 yards for a Seattle touchdown. It was the second kickoff return for a touchdown in the NFL this season. Then Kenneth Walker III scored and the Seahawks trailed 23-17 before the end of the third quarter. 49ers running back Jordan Mason suffered a shoulder injury in the first half and played only the first play of the second half, impacting an offense that has been without Christian McCaffrey all season. San Francisco seemed to be in trouble.

Then Smith threw an interception that essentially decided the outcome. It was miserably subdued by DK Metcalf, Renardo Green grabbed it and the 49ers were able to decide the game.

Kittle scored again and the 49ers led 29-17. The Seahawks got a touchdown back and trailed 29-24 with under two minutes left. They got going with all three timeouts remaining. But Isaac Guerendo, filling in for Mason and McCaffrey, broke off a 76-yard run. Kyle Juszczyk scored the winning goal with 1:17 left.

There have been some concerns about the 49ers, and three losses to start the season aren't exactly good for their hopes of earning the No. 1 seed in the NFC. But Thursday night was further proof that the Seahawks and the NFC West are still theirs, even if there is still room for improvement.