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49ers clinched the No 1 seed in the NFC with a 26-21 win over the Seahawks in their last meeting in Seattle; watch 49ers @ Seahawks as part of the NFL Sunday night triple-header, live on Sky Sports NFL from 9.25pm
Last Updated: 01/11/20 10:25am
0:36 The NFC West has never been stronger. With an extra, seventh playoff berth awarded to each conference in the 2020 season, there is a genuine possibility that all four teams from the West reach the postseason.
The 5-1 Seattle Seahawks currently lead the way, followed by the Arizona Cardinals and Los Angeles Rams at 5-2 and then, just to underline the strength of the division, the reigning conference-champion San Francisco 49ers are the cellar dwellers with a 4-3 winning record.
First plays fourth on Sunday night – live on Sky Sports NFL from 9.25pm – and, in truth, the division is never more relevant than with a meeting between the Seahawks and the 49ers.
6:38 Since the NFL’s division realignment in 2002 to its current form, Seattle have won the West eight times, with San Francisco next best with four. It so often seems to be those two slugging it out for supremacy.
Most notable were the clashes between the Pete Carroll-coached Seahawks and the Jim Harbaugh-led 49ers of the early 2010s.
The two had already duelled it out in the college ranks, with Harbaugh’s Stanford upsetting Carroll’s 41-point favourites USC in 2007 while, two years later, Harbaugh ran up the score in a 55-21 drubbing, prompting Carroll to ask, ‘what’s your deal?’ as the coaches clashed post-match.
That ill-feeling would fester and ultimately fan the flames of the 49ers-Seahawks rivalry as Carroll and Harbaugh took over in Seattle and San Francisco, respectively, a year apart from each other.
Carroll’s squad won the West in his first season in charge, in 2010, albeit with a losing record (7-9), while Harbaugh claimed back-to-back division crowns in 2011 and 2012 – the latter culminating in a trip to the Super Bowl, but defeat to the Baltimore Ravens.
The West would again be represented in the big game the following year, though this time Seattle earning the berth by beating the 49ers in the NFC Championship game – the most memorable clash between these two rivals.
There had been warning signs for San Francisco; even with their run to the Super Bowl the year before, the Seahawks had hammered them 42-13 in a Week 16 home win, and then again in Week Three of the 2012 season and a 29-3 success.
The 49ers eventually found their mojo and made their way back to Seattle for the NFC Championship game. They were far more competitive, even leading 10-3 at the half, but back came Seattle to lead by six with three and a half minutes left.
During a time when Colin Kaepernick was more well known for his fine work on the football field than in leading social change off it, he drove the 49ers down the field to the Seattle 18-yard line, setting up a shot to Michael Crabtree in the endzone for what would be a potentially game-winning touchdown, only for Richard Sherman to tip the ball into Malcolm Smith’s hands for an interception.
What came next was perhaps even more memorable than the game-clinching play itself, as a vocal Sherman – who now plays for the 49ers – famously called out Crabtree. “Well, I’m the best corner in the game,” he said. “When you try me with a sorry receiver like Crabtree, that’s the result you gonna get. Don’t you EVER talk about me!”
The Seahawks went on to blowout the Denver Broncos in the Super Bowl that year, and came within a goal-line interception against the New England Patriots of winning another a year later. But their rivalry with San Francisco has struggled a little for relevance since, with the 49ers losing the next 10 meetings between the two teams.
That NFC Championship clash back in early 2014 was also the last time San Fran made it to the postseason, with Harbaugh gone a year later and the team failing to register a winning record in any of the subsequent seasons – until last year.
The 49ers exploded out of the blocks to an 8-0 start, built off of a ferocious defensive line overflowing with first-round draft picks and the strength of head coach Kyle Shanahan’s creative scheme on offence.
It was again left to the Seahawks to spoil the party, as they stole a 27-24 overtime win in San Francisco in Week 10 to give the team its first loss. The 49ers, however, would finally banish those demons and gain revenge over their biggest rivals in the final game of the regular season, in Seattle.
The 49ers would enter the game with a 12-3 record, Seahawks 11-4, with the No 1 seed and home advantage through the playoffs at stake. It would be the latest spic entry in the annals of this great rivalry.
San Francisco made light work of Seattle in the first half, opening up a 13-0 lead at the break, with Russell Wilson leading three masterful touchdown drives to see them pull to within five at 26-21 late in the game.
The 49ers were forced to punt the ball back to the Seahawks with two and a half minutes left on the clock, the home side starting from their own 27-yard line.
Wilson moved the ball down the field again and, with 23 seconds remaining, Seattle were camped on the San Francisco goal line looking for the go-ahead score until a costly delay of game penalty backed them up four yards.
Then, after back-to-back incompletions intended for Tyler Lockett and Jacob Hollister, Wilson found the latter up the middle with 12 seconds left only the tight end to be stopped inches short of scoring by an incredible game-winning tackle by linebacker Dre Greenlaw.
5:42 San Francisco got the all-important No 1 seed, paving the way for their run to the Super Bowl, while Seattle succumbed to a divisional-round exit in Green Bay to the Packers.
The No 1 seed isn’t on the line this Sunday – not yet – but there are still massive playoff implications in what is sure to be another thriller in the latest installment of this epic rivalry.
Watch 49ers @ Seahawks as part of the NFL Sunday night triple-header, live on Sky Sports NFL from 9.25pm.
