Bob Condotta

The Seattle Times

SANTA CLARA, Calif. —

Chris Carson can only hope his next milestone comes in a happier moment.

He couldn’t really celebrate his career-high 119 rushing yards Sunday against the 49ers because Seattle lost 26-23 in overtime.

But that performance once again proved both Carson — and Seattle’s running attack — are here to stay.

Carson led Seattle to 168 rushing yards on the day — the 10th time this season the Seahawks have topped the 150-yard mark for rushing. That performance was capped by his 1-yard run for a touchdown on fourth down early in the fourth quarter that helped briefly tied the game.

Carson broke through two 49ers defenders on his way to the end zone, but was stopped shy of the goal line — at least that’s how it looked to the 49ers fans at Levi’s Stadium, who began cheering when they thought their defense had stopped Carson.

Carson, though, quickly shushed the cheers when he plowed his way into the end zone.

“I just wanted to keep going until my body was on the ground,” Carson said. “I don’t feel like I was stopped. (Left tackle) Duane (Brown) helped me out with a good push, helped me get in.”

And now Carson is on the precipice of another little piece of Seahawks history — he has 913 yards for the season and is poised to become Seattle’s first 1,000-yard rusher since Marshawn Lynch had 1,306 in 2014.

Carson has gotten there by showing a consistency over the past month that helped answer what was the biggest question about his game — his durability. He has rushed for 55 or more yards, with 13 or more carries in each of the past five games, tallying 416 yards on 90 carries in that time.

Carson missed two games earlier this season due to injuries and infamously was referred to by coach Pete Carroll as having been “gassed” due to work on special teams in the second game of the year against Chicago.

But Carson appears gassed no more as he attempts to become the first Seattle player other than Lynch to hit the 1,000-yard mark since Shaun Alexander did it in 2005.

“I’m good,” Carson said when asked how he felt after the game. “I’m good.”

Carson’s yards didn’t necessarily come easily against the 49ers. He had 26 on one pitchout left in the third quarter and 24 on another run in the second quarter. He had 69 on his other 20 carries and said afterward it was obvious the 49ers were trying to take away Seattle’s running game.

“That was their whole game plan,” Carson said. “They did a great job with it. So we know we’ve got to stick with it and had to open things up in the second half.”

Seattle actually was equally successful in both halves, with 74 yards on 17 carries in the first half, and 94 yards on 18 carries in the second.

Carson had 47 of those yards on nine carries in the first half and 72 on 13 the rest of the way. Carson also caught passes on all six of his targets for 29 yards, which also set a career high.

“Chris ran great today,” Carroll said. “We ran the ball well today and I thought the whole approach to what we tried to get done was there and I don’t have any problems with it. I thought Chris looked great today. He was physical and tough and he busted out.”