49ers have excellent opportunity to end horrendous run vs. Seahawks
Matchups between the 49ers and the Seahawks have typically not gone in San Francisco’s favor in the modern era.
Since Seattle’s win over the 49ers in the NFC Championship Game at the end of the 2013 season, San Francisco has lost 15 of the 17 meetings with their NFC West rivals.
The Seahawks completed a season sweep over an injury-ravaged Niners team in 2020 and did the same in 2021 as San Francisco let two games in which the 49ers were quite clearly the superior all-round team slip away.
Those losses made the path to the playoffs harder than it could have been for the 49ers. However, in both of those games, the Seahawks had Russell Wilson at quarterback, a luxury they will not enjoy when San Francisco hosts Seattle in Week 2.
Though there is an argument the trade of Russell Wilson and move to Geno Smith as the starting quarterback allows the Seahawks to run the offense they envisioned when they hired Sean McVay disciple Shane Waldron as their offensive coordinator, there is no doubt Wilson’s exit removes some of the fear factor around Seattle for the 49ers.
While Smith undoubtedly played well in the Seahawks’ dramatic opening win over Wilson and the Denver Broncos, he has traditionally been a quarterback who has struggled against pressure and should face plenty of it as the 49ers’ deep defensive line goes against a Seattle offensive line starting two rookies at tackle.
On defense, the Seahawks gave up 433 yards last week and have an extremely inexperienced secondary that Trey Lance and the 49ers’ passing game should be able to exploit. Simply put, the Seahawks giving up that level of yardage but holding a team 0-4 in the red zone as they did against the Broncos is not a sustainable path to success.
That is not to say the Seahawks do not pose a danger to the 49ers. DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett remain one of the better wide receiver duos in the NFL, while on defense the Seattle pass rush showed against Denver that it can pose problems against a shaky San Francisco offensive line. Safety Quandre Diggs will also be alert to any potential mistakes Lance makes as he continues to adapt to life as an NFL starter.
But given the gap in talent between the two teams and the departure of the quarterback who has tormented them for years, the 49ers have never had a better opportunity to end their miserable run against Seattle. After failing to capitalize on a favorable matchup against Chicago, it is imperative they do so at home this week.
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