‘The football gods were smiling on us’: Rain stays away from 49ers’ playoff win vs. Seahawks

SANTA CLARA — Who would be better prepared to deal with a rain-soaked football field than a groundskeeper from Seattle, right?

So went the 49ers’ thought process this week, when they contacted the Seahawks to make an unprecedented request. They wanted to fly in a hired hand for Saturday’s NFC Wild Card showdown: Seattle’s head groundskeeper, Sean Vanos.

So concerned about a coming storm — amid the Bay Area’s soggiest stretch of weather in years — the 49ers asked for assistance from their playoff opponent and divisional rival to deal with it. Jay Glazer was the first to report the move on the Fox Sports telecast, and the Bay Area News Group confirmed the Seahawks’ groundskeeper was on hand.

However, despite a week of forecasts calling for the rain to continue through kickoff Saturday, those precautions proved to be unnecessary. It poured before the game and drenched the field soon after it ended, but for a four-hour window Saturday afternoon, it stayed mostly dry over Santa Clara.

“The football gods were smiling on us,” right tackle Mike McGlinchey said after the 49ers’ 41-23 win. “I thought it could’ve been like a 10-6 game instead of the 40 points we put up. … They wanted the best product on the field.”

Just as the 49ers needed no help pouring it on the Seahawks to advance to the divisional round, they needed little assistance from Seattle’s groundskeeper, either.

Tailgating fans huddled under canopies before kickoff, and the scheduled flyover was canceled. But the skies, which have dumped more than a foot of rain on Santa Clara since Christmas, dried up before halftime, and even briefly shined blue.

“How bout that?” McGlinchey said. “Four weeks in a row, they’ve been calling for rain on our game day and we got sunshine for two quarters today. That was awesome.”

Fans who roared for Arik Armstead’s sack that ended Seattle’s first possession of the game had traded in their bright-green all-weather gear for their typical gameday attire by the time Deebo Samuel was scampering down the sideline for the game-sealing score in the fourth quarter.

Despite the 49ers’ penchant for running the ball, and the preference to keep it on the ground in wet weather, rookie Brock Purdy attempted his third-most passes since becoming the starting quarterback.

Making his first career postseason start, Purdy was either bothered by the early rain or his nerves — starting 1-for-4 with a couple of bad misfires — but settled in as the game went on and finished with three touchdowns and 332 yards passing.

While fullback Kyle Juszczyk admitted the ball was a bit slick early on, the 49ers were unfazed by the wet weather, or lack thereof. After all, it has been raining at historic levels for almost a month now, and the 49ers don’t have an indoor practice facility to escape the conditions.

“Bring on the rain, man,” safety Jimmie Ward said. “It’s working for us.”

Linebacker Dre Greenlaw said he slipped once at the goal line but made the play anyway.

“I didn’t really notice it,” Greenlaw said, echoing the sentiment from a jubilant 49ers locker room. “It would rain and stop, but honestly I didn’t even think about it. I just played.”

All the oxygen spent on sports radio this week about how the conditions — and the Seahawks’ familiarity in it — would impact the game proved to be for naught. Seattle took a 17-16 lead into halftime but didn’t score again until the game was all but decided late in the fourth quarter.

The game turned when the ball slipped loose from Geno Smith’s hands late in the third quarter. By then, though, the rain had stopped. More credit is due to Charles Omenihu, who forced the ball free, and Nick Bosa, who recovered it.

It made the two-hour trip from Tracy worthwhile for Ingrid Alcantara, a lifelong Niners fan. Alcantara, an MRI technician, said she hadn’t missed a game this season but considered staying home because of the forecast.

“I was like, OK, should we get these tickets or should we not because of the rain?” said Alcantara, whose friend, Lily Rodriguez, pulled an unused poncho out of her pocket. “But I was like, you know what, just (screw) it. We’re just gonna do it. If anything we’re gonna get these rain coats.”

Sandeep Vanam, a software engineer from Fremont, at least got some use out of his rain gear but was happy to see the sun breaking through around halftime. After attending Jaguars-Titans in Jacksonville last week, he paid $199 to get in Saturday.

“By the way I’m dressed right now,” Vanam said, gesturing to the red poncho draped over his body, “I was expecting some rain, but the weather’s so good, I’m really happy that I’m here and the sun is out.”

Neither fans nor 49ers players, though, were aware of the extent of the club’s preparations.

“That’s pretty wild,” McGlinchey said. “All hands on deck.”