Just when it looked like Geno Smith was running out of excuses, he put the Seattle Seahawks on his back and led them on another game-winning drive. This time it was against the San Francisco 49ers, who had defeated them in six straight meetings. This time it was Geno Smith himself who finished it, scrambling twice to find the end zone against a Niners defense that couldn’t overcome the loss of Nick Bosa, who could only watch and grin from the sideline as Seattle panicked.

The win comes as a major upset, reviving the Seahawks’ playoff chances and significantly shaking up the NFC standings in Week 12. It also gave them a significant jump in Vinnie Iyer’s power rankings at The Sporting News. Seattle is now at number 16, up four spots from last week.

“The Seahawks remain strong and powerful with Mike Macdonald, led by a determined defense and Geno Smith. The NFC West race got a lot more interesting with their shocker in San Francisco.”

Meanwhile, the loss dropped the 49ers four spots, from 10th to 14th:

“The 49ers lost another major division home game with George Kittle (hamstring) failing to find his best form and their defense letting down late without Nick Bosa (oblique). San Francisco is desperately battling a Super Bowl hangover a tight division that has won’ A decision will not be made until late in the second half.”

Kittle and Bosa, both of us, were undeniably a big part of the win, but the Seahawks themselves have had a lot of bad luck against the Niners in recent years. They were still without their top rusher Uchenna Nwosu, so we don’t want to hear any asterisks for this much-needed win.

There are still issues to be sure. The Seahawks can’t get a push at the line of scrimmage when they try to run and for the second straight game, they turned the ball over on downs after failing on third-and-1 and fourth-and-1.

What really matters, though, is that this team showed improvement in a few key areas. For starters, Olu Oluwatimi proved to be a dramatic upgrade over Connor Williams at center, save for one bad moment. They also solved their penalty problems, at least temporarily. In Week 12, they led the NFL in penalties, but committed just four for 20 lost yards.

Most of Seattle’s defense looks better than it has in years. For the second game in a row, Ernest Jones IV’s presence made the entire unit look sharper. They defended the run well, holding Christian McCaffrey to just 79 yards on 19 carries (4.2 per attempt). While their pass rush was far from lethal, they at least got to Brock Purdy for two sacks and four hits, an improvement from last time. While they had issues with Jauan Jennings for some reason, no one else really did much damage in the passing game for the 49ers. Overall, it was a wonderful defensive performance that they should be able to build on.

Next up, the Seahawks will host the Arizona Cardinals. A win would put them in first place in the NFC West.

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