Niners Nation
The San Francisco 49ers begin their 2025 campaign against the Seattle Seahawks. Weirdness doesn’t begin to describe what happens when these two teams meet. A five-game winning streak over the Seahawks was snapped in Week 11 of the 2024 season when the 49ers imploded (as the 2024 San Francisco 49ers tended to do) and then-Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith strutted into the end zone.
The 49ers go to Lumen Field for this game, a place Brock Purdy is yet to lose, as of this writing. Given the extensive history between these two teams during 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan’s tenure, I thought it would be fitting to share the story thus far in this rivalry. We start before Purdy arrives.
Whenever you think of the 49ers under Kyle Shanahan being bad, think of 2017. This is when they were definitely not good. They drew the Seahawks in Week 2, at then-CenturyLink field in a 12-9 snozefest. The 49ers almost had a chance of pulling this out-field goal-ing the Seahawks to death, until the fourth quarter rolled around and Russell Wilson did some fourth-quarter theatrics to score a touchdown with seven minutes left. In true Seahawks fashion, the extra point was missed, leaving an opening for the 49ers to tie the game. The next drive ended in a punt, and the Seahawks sucked up what little time remained.
The home game in Week 12 was not much better, at least on the win-loss record. And for a majority of the game, it wasn’t much different from what you’ve seen, until the final minute. Quarterback C.J. Beathard left the game after an injury, and Jimmy Garoppolo, fresh off his trade more than a month earlier to the game, came in for his first action with the team. What followed was Garoppolo taking the team down the field efficiently and finding Louis Murphy Jr. for a touchdown as time expired
This made the score 24-13 Seahawks. That’s not important. What was important to this series was the transformation of the 49ers into Kyle Shanahan’s 49ers. From then on, until the injuries mounted, they were no longer an “easy” win on the schedule.
In 2018, the two would not meet until Week 13. Unfortunately, it was obvious a loss was in the cards since Garoppolo suffered a season-ending knee injury in Week 3 against the Kansas City Chiefs. The Seahawks took an early 20-3 lead, and the game ended 43-16. Another game where the less said, the better.
Much like 2017, there were some moral victories. The 49ers faced the Seahawks two weeks later in a game with the team on opposite ends of the spectrum: the Seahawks chasing a playoff spot, the 49ers in the conversation for the No. 1 pick. Despite those differences, the 49ers pulled out a win. It is also one of those rare times you see the 49ers’ special teams take a kickoff back for a touchdown.
With a field...
