SEATTLE — It’s one thing to dub your defense “The Dark Side,” an inspired nickname for a mob of maulers. To wear T-shirts with self-appointed slogans — “M.O.B.,” “12 as One,” “Death Zone,” “Chasing Edges,” the list goes on and on. To publicly proclaim (and repeat) your dislike for the San Francisco 49ers. To hold a laser show inside your stadium, with blinking green and blue lights wrapped around the railings. To roll out 50 years of franchise legends, including Kam Chancellor leading a “SEA-HAWKS” chant along the sideline. To hire rasping rapper Lil Jon for the halftime show.

It’s another to back up the bluster.

The Seahawks are exactly who they say they are.

They’re what the No. 1 playoff seed and statistics say, too.

Namely, the team to beat in the NFC.

That was immediately evident in Saturday’s 41-6 smothering of San Francisco. In Seattle’s first home playoff game (with a crowd) since 2017, Rashid Shaheed caught the opening kickoff on a trot at the 5-yard line. The former Saints speedster dashed through a diving tackle at the 48-yard line and a baseball-sliding trip attempt by kicker Eddy Pineiro at San Francisco’s 45. From there, he glided untouched into the end zone, posing with hands on hips on the Seahawks logo.

To summon former coach Pete Carroll, you can’t win the game in the first quarter.

But you can drop top-rope elbows until your rival taps out.

“It just showed how prepared we are to come out and dominate,” Shaheed said of his immediate impact. “That was our mindset throughout the whole week. That’s our mindset each and every game, and that’s exactly what we came out to do. That started with special teams and carried through the rest of the game.”

On Saturday, the elbows were everywhere. Linebacker Ernest Jones IV landed several, via a forced fumble and an interception. Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold — who played through an oblique injury — dropped an elbow of his own, rolling left and unleashing a laser to Jaxon Smith-Njigba for a 4-yard score. Running back Kenneth Walker III hit haymakers, with 116 rushing yards and three touchdowns. Defensive lineman Leonard Williams belly-flopped on 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy for a fourth-and-2 sack.

This was another “Murder on the Orient Express,” in that absolutely everyone was in on it.

(Sorry for the 92-year-old detective novel spoiler.)

“When you’ve got offense, defense and special teams playing off of each other like that, it’s dangerous. It’s very dangerous,” said wide receiver Cooper Kupp, who led the Seahawks with five catches for 60 yards. “We capitalized on some of that today.”

“Some,” in this case, is an understatement.

When a playoff game ends with both backup quarterbacks coming on in relief because the outcome is apparent, that says something. When San Francisco receiver Jauan Jennings — who said last week the Seahawks were “who we wanted” — records just two catches for 23 yards, that says something. When the “Dark Side” allows 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan and Co. a combined nine points in back-to-back pummelings, that says something.

When your defense has surrendered one total touchdown in its past three games and you’ve rushed for more than 160 yards in each of the past four? That says you’re doing something special.

On Saturday, the Seahawks’ elbows said everything.

Or, as defensive lineman Jarran Reed said this week: “We don’t do too much talking. We let our pads talk. But we know what’s at stake. They know what’s at stake. It’s about getting between them lines and hitting it head-on, man on man, mano y mano.”

The stakes, though, cannot be overstated. Because these opportunities are not perpetual. We don’t know if offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak will be back. We don’t know how the Seahawks might respond to other possible staff departures. We don’t know if their core can continue to stay healthy. We don’t know how a cutthroat NFC West division will evolve. We don’t know if the NFL will become magically immune to coach Mike Macdonald’s genius. We don’t know if they’ll be bitten by another bye week oblique.

This could be the beginning of a golden era. Or a trap door above a shark tank.

As Detroit Lions coach Dan Campbell said after losing to San Francisco in the 2024 NFC Championship Game: “This may have been our only shot.”

In this league, first shots and last shots can look a lot alike.

Which is why this moment means everything. It’s why the Seahawks need to do this now, not next year. Not in a fragile future that was never guaranteed.

The Seahawks better have more hits in them during next week's NFC Championship Game. Because divisional round wins are rarely remembered. This team will be defined by what it does next.

“I wouldn’t say we expected this. But when we play our style of play, games can look like this often,” Jones said. “We were able to do that on all three phases today, and that’s just what it was.

“For us, the job’s not done. We’ve got one more game to earn an opportunity to play in the big one. I always say, ‘You can’t win the Super Bowl unless you’re in it.’ So don’t worry about the Super Bowl right now. Just take one game at a time. That’s it.”

The Seahawks are not worried about the Super Bowl.

But the message they sent on Saturday was unmistakable.

____

© 2026 The Seattle Times. Visit www.seattletimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.