The Seattle Seahawks had some stumbles in Sunday’s game against the rival San Francisco 49ers, but still had a late chance to win the game despite struggles on both sides of the ball.

The defense held tight against a 49ers team filled with weapons, but the new-look offense led by quarterback Sam Darnold struggled to move the ball in the 17-13 loss.

After the game, Darnold addressed the criticism about his preparation efforts leading up to his first season in Seattle.

Sam Darnold Pushes Aside Preseason Concerns

Darnold was one of the most sought-after free agents last offseason, coming off a surprise turnaround season where he was thrust into a starting role and led the Minnesota Vikings to a 14-3 record.

There were questions about whether the journeyman quarterback could replicate his career-best season, but he saw little action in the preseason to give any indication of how he might play.

Darnold was asked about the decision after Sunday’s game, but said the team’s decision to play him for just one series across three preseason games was not a factor in the loss.

“After I came off the field after the game, I knew that wasn’t our standard and how we do things,” Darnold said, via the team’s official website.

“We knew that. I knew that personally. I talked to some of the guys already and we’re just going to continue to grow and get better from it and we’ll be all right.”

There were still some bright points in Seattle’s loss, including a nine-catch, 124-yard performance from wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba.

Sam Darnold’s Late Fumble Doomed Seahawks

Darnold completed 16-of-23 passes for 150 yards and limited his mistakes until the final drive, when he fumbled off the back of an offensive lineman to close out their chances of winning.

After the game, the veteran quarterback gave credit to the aggressive 49ers defense.

“Obviously not the start that we wanted, credit those guys,” Darnold said. “I thought their defense came out and played really well.

They had some good scheme. Obviously Coach Shanahan and the guys over there, knew they’d be ready to roll.

For us, it was just not enough today. I felt like we weren’t as efficient as we wanted to be on first and second down;

third down we got to be way better as well. So not our best day today. We’ll bounce back and be better next week.”

Darnold said the Seahawks will get right back to work in preparing for the Pittsburgh Steelers, trying to correct their mistakes from Week 1 and rebound.

“It’s just going in tomorrow, looking at the tape, understanding how we can be better, understanding,” Darnold said.

“Every guy looking in the mirror and saying, how can I be better. Nothing more than that. I thought we had a really good week of practice.

I thought we came out with the right intentions every single day. Just didn’t work out the way we wanted to on the field.

We’ll be better that way and we’ll grow and continue to stride to be the best offense we can be.”