The San Francisco 49ers just took a major blow against the Seattle Seahawks. Wide receiver Deebo Samuel Sr. left late in the third quarter with a leg injury, and he won’t return.

Samuel went down on the field and stayed there for a minute before trainers helped him off. He has been sitting on the bench since, and he hasn’t spent much time on his feet. That isn’t what anybody in San Francisco wanted to see in a game this close.

The play that hurt San Francisco twice

Could the timing have been any worse? Not really.

The play Samuel got hurt on was also a fumble. Seattle recovered the ball and turned that short field into a field goal, which handed the Seahawks a 26-21 lead.

So the 49ers lost possession, lost three points, and lost one of their most dangerous offensive weapons all on the same snap. You rarely see one play swing a game in that many directions at once, and it came at the worst possible moment for San Francisco. Plus, to make it even worse, wide receiver Jacob Cowing went down on the kick return that followed. He is questionable to return with an ankle injury. 

Look, fumbles happen. Samuel has been a tough, physical playmaker for this team for a long time, and that style is a big part of what makes him special. He breaks tackles, he fights for extra yards, and he does whatever the offense asks. Sometimes that physical style comes with a cost. Today, the 49ers paid it in more ways than one.

Greenlaw’s ejection already put the 49ers in a hole

What makes this sting even more is that Samuel isn’t the first key player San Francisco has lost against Seattle.

The 49ers also lost linebacker Dre Greenlaw earlier in the game to an ejection. That’s a big piece of the defense gone, and now a big piece of the offense is out as well. Losing one starter in a divisional game is tough enough. Losing two key contributors on both sides of the ball in the same afternoon is a whole different problem.

Divisional games against the Seahawks are always physical and always tight, and this one is following that script. San Francisco is going to have to finish it with a shorter bench than it started with, and that puts a lot of pressure on everyone else to step up.

What comes next for Samuel and the 49ers

Obviously, the biggest question is how serious this is. I don’t know, and nobody outside that building does at this point. The 49ers have only said Samuel is out for the remainder of the game, and the details will have to wait.

We’ll have to see what head coach Kyle Shanahan says after the game. Shanahan usually offers some kind of early update in his postgame press conference, so that will be the first real look at what San Francisco is dealing with.

Now, Samuel is the type of player this offense is built to use in a lot of different ways. He lines up out wide, he works in the slot, and he gets touches out of the backfield. Losing that kind of versatility for even a quarter forces Shanahan to get creative with the play calling, and that’s what the 49ers are dealing with as they try to erase a 5-point deficit.

San Francisco has to find answers fast

I’ll tell you this much: this is the kind of day that tests a team. The 49ers have a deficit to overcome, a defense down a key player, and an offense without one of its most reliable weapons for the rest of the afternoon.

Can San Francisco still pull this one out? I think it can, but it is going to take somebody else making the plays Samuel usually makes. The 49ers have enough talent to respond, and Shanahan has been in tough spots like this before. Seattle has all the momentum right now. 

No matter how the final score shakes out, this is a tough blow for the 49ers. The focus now shifts to Shanahan’s postgame update and what it means for Deebo Samuel’s injury in the weeks ahead.