19 quick observations from the 49ers Wild Card win

It started just as we had hoped. The San Francisco 49ers jumped out to a 10-0 lead over the Seattle Seahawks in Saturday’s NFC Wild Card Game. It looked like they might run away with it. But then as quickly as they built that lead, it was gone. The 49ers entered the locker room trailing 17-16.

But there was something I noticed as the first half was coming to a close. The 49ers looked unhappy, no doubt frustrated with how they had played. The Seahawks were laughing, happy, almost celebrating how they had played. It was at that point that I knew things would change in the second half. The 49ers were far from satisfied, while the Seahawks seemed happy just to not be getting blown out.

One team seemed to know they had underperformed. The other team appeared to know they had overperformed. Fortunately, the 49ers came out and scored 25 points in the second half to send the Seahawks home, and advance to the divisional round of the NFL postseason.

Here are my Wild Card observations:

• The 49ers’ defense opened the game with two 3-and-outs. But then followed that by allowing Seattle to drive down the field and score a touchdown. The defense wasn’t good in the first half. And though they looked more like themselves in the second half, I have to confess that I’m a little concerned about this unit, which has been the best in the NFL all season.