By Morris Phillips

The first Thanksgiving meeting of the NFC West rivals Seattle and San Francisco couldn’t be broken down more accurately if it were gravy and stuffing: the Seahawks looked like one big, happy family while the 49ers looked like their holiday meal was catered and served ice cold.

In the big showdown between the two teams that battled to the wire in last season’s NFC Championship game, the Seahawks stopped the 49ers and Colin Kaepernick dead in their tracks.  The 49ers managed just 164 yards in total offense, scored three points and saw Carlos Hyde’s 16-yard catch and run in the second quarter stand as their longest play of the night.

Based on the 49ers’ recent performances, the lack of offense couldn’t have been completely unexpected, but in the biggest game of the season to date, the assumption was that one of the better teams in the NFL could lift their game.  But against the Seahawks, they couldn’t.  Richard Sherman picked off two Kaepernick passes, preened and pranced while the 49ers and Michael Crabtree appeared frustrated and helpless.

“Things just aren’t happening for us and I don’t know why,” Frank Gore said.  “We need to look at ourselves as a whole and see what is going on.  It’s tough.”

“We didn’t get it done,” Coach Jim Harbaugh admitted.  “The Seahawks played much better team football than we did.  We know what we have to do now—to come back and win them all.”

Coming in all the numbers pointed toward the NFC playoff picture not being big enough for all three NFC West contenders.  Now the 49ers appear to be the obvious omission come January with the Seahawks (8-4), Cowboys (8-4) and Lions (8-4) a game ahead with at least two of the three needing to falter to help San Francisco.  The 49ers (7-5) have winnable games ahead with the Raiders, Chargers and Cardinals in the season finale at home, but now a loss at Seattle on December 14 probably would eliminate them from contention.

The stark reality of the 49ers’ post-season hopes and the poor performance drew an immediate reaction from team owner Jed York who tweeted an apology to the fans while calling the team’s performance “unacceptable.”