Seahawks bag top seed on final weekend

Bucs beat Panthers to keep their hopes alive

- 

Sam Darnold’s Seattle Seahawks beat the San Francisco 49ers 13-3 with a dominant defensive display on Saturday, capturing the NFC top seed and earning a favourable route to the Super Bowl.

The win hands Seattle a first-round playoff bye, and home-field advantage in the postseason knockout rounds leading to next month’s NFL championship spectacle.

“Our defence picked us up. They have been all year. They've been doing a great job,” said quarterback Darnold.

The Seahawks yielded only 53 rushing yards against a highly rated 49ers offence, while Seattle's Kenneth Walker III personally rushed for 97 yards to help secure the NFC West division title.

“Incredible,” Walker said. “We worked so hard from day one... we've been grinding up till now. But we got a lot of work to do, so we can’t get satisfied.”

For the 49ers, the loss means hitting the road for next weekend's wildcard round, and a trickier route to Super Bowl LX, which is being held at their home stadium in Santa Clara, California, on Feb 8.