Why Seahawks matchup against 49ers is key to early part of NFL season

by · The Seattle Times

RENTON — At almost the same time Sunday the Seahawks watched Jason Myers’ potential game-tying field goal get blocked by the Giants and returned for a defeat-assuring touchdown, 49ers QB Brock Purdy threw an interception, killing a potential game-winning drive in a loss to Arizona.

The Seahawks and 49ers both coming off surprising last-minute-deciding losses at home as favorites might not have been the wave the NFL wanted them to be riding coming into the league’s weekly Thursday night Amazon Prime showcase game.

But those twin defeats may have ratcheted up the importance of the first of two games between the teams this season.

Despite the faceplant against the Giants, the Seahawks lead the NFC West at 3-2, with the 49ers — the overwhelming preseason favorite to win the division — falling to 2-3 with the loss to the Cardinals.

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That was the third loss in four games for the 49ers since an opening route of the New York Jets. 

Two of those losses have come against NFC West teams, the other a 27-24 defeat in L.A. against the Rams — each decided on field goals in the final two minutes.

That had 49ers general manager John Lynch declaring Wednesday that the game against the Seahawks is about as close to a must-win as a game can get this time of year.

“A must-win ultimately means if you lose you’re out, so it’s not there,’’ Lynch said during an appearance on KNBR radio in San Francisco. “But you go to 0-3 in your division, that’s not good. We’ve dominated our division of late. But this is a new season, and we haven’t done that. The stakes are high. We gotta go see what we’re made of.” 

The game was already big for the Seahawks to try to show they can hang with a 49ers team that has dominated them the past two years.

The 49ers have beaten the Seahawks five times over the 2022 and 2023 seasons, including a wild-card playoff game, all by at least eight points and by a combined scored of 148-72.

A 31-13 San Francisco win in Seattle last Thanksgiving night can be viewed as the beginning of the end of the Pete Carroll era. 

The Seahawks came into the game at 6-4 and the 49ers at 7-3. A win and the Seahawks would have moved into first place in the NFC West. Instead, the 49ers took a 24-3 halftime lead, outgaining the Seahawks 148-0 in the first quarter and 225-56 in the first half.

The 49ers beat the Seahawks again two weeks later in a perfunctory 28-16 victory on their way to a Super Bowl appearance, while Seattle stumbled to 9-8 and out of the playoffs and making a coaching change at the end of the season. 

That Mike Macdonald coordinated a Baltimore defense that handed the 49ers a 33-19 defeat in Santa Clara, Calif., on Christmas night surely didn’t hurt his cause when GM John Schneider decided to hire him to replace Carroll.

Seahawks QB Geno Smith, who started four of those games (he was injured for the road loss last season when Drew Lock started, instead) insisted that history won’t matter Thursday night.

“It’s just about this game,’’ Smith said. “Those five games don’t help them, don’t help us. It’s about this game and focusing on this Thursday night. That’s all that really matters. Yeah, you can say that, but then you can go past that and say we beat them five straight times. I think it doesn’t really matter. It just matters about this game and what we do now.’’

Maybe so. But for some of the veterans in the Seahawks locker room, a win could provide some hard evidence that things are unquestionably going to be different under Macdonald. 

A little positive reinforcement may be needed following the losses of the past two weeks when the defense allowed 71 points after holding the first three opponents to a combined 42.

Smith insisted those losses won’t linger.

“We’re locked in, 24-hour rule,’’ he said Tuesday. “We’ve already passed that game. That’s already done. We can’t do nothing about it. We’re locked in for our next opponent, our next opportunity. It’s a big game, everyone is excited.’’

While there are physical challenges with the short turnaround for a Thursday night game — the third in 10 days for the Seahawks — having little time between games may have helped them turn the page quickly from the Giants disappointment.

A victory would not only assure the Seahawks of staying in first in the NFC West and move the them two games ahead of the 49ers, but also kick off a stretch of games that has been viewed as the toughest part of the schedule on the right foot.

A week from Sunday, they travel to play a dangerous Atlanta team, then comes home for games against Buffalo and the Rams before a bye on Nov. 3 and a rematch with the 49ers on Nov. 10. 

Getting a little cushion on the 49ers now — especially as they close with five of eight on the road — seems well-advised, even if there’s still a long way to go.

“Every game’s a must-win,’’ Macdonald said Wednesday after being told of Lynch’s comment. “That’s our mentality. Every practice is a must-win practice. And then anytime you can go tee it up for real, there’s always a sense of urgency to do whatever it takes to win the game. I understand their position, but we’re in a similar one as well. Again, it’s early in the season, but every game is critically important.”