Seattle Seahawks News: One Last Stand For San Francisco

When Richard Sherman and the Seattle Seahawks tipped the NFC championship game away from the San Francisco 49ers last year, it signaled the beginning of an era. The 49ers had been excellent for years, while the Seahawks were still one Super Bowl win away from announcing their long-awaited arrival in a huge way. That dramatic game to determine the NFC champ was the unofficial starting point for the new best NFL rivalry.

Of course, the post-championship Seahawks scuffled for a while before regaining form late in the year. That was alright, for competitive purposes, since their first matchup with the Niners wasn’t until Thanksgiving. But San Francisco took their own struggles into that matchup, and by day’s end it was clear who was the better team.

In the week since that Turkey Day blowout, the gap between Seattle and San Francisco has only gotten more distinct. The Seahawks handled the Philadelphia Eagles while the Niners lost to an unbelievably garbagey Oakland Raiders team. Now it’s once again time for ‘Hawks-Niners, but it doesn’t feel right.

Seattle is heavily favored, and indeed, anything short of a big win will feel like an upset. This, from the two teams that seemed neck in neck as recently as week one? From the two teams that generated huge amounts of interest and excitement no less than two weeks ago? There should be no favorites in these match-ups. This was supposed to be the most ferocious rivalry in the league.

If the Seahawks were still playing poorly, this would be a more compelling game. If San Francisco was playing even decent football, this would be a more compelling game. It’s hard to believe how lopsided this matchup looks, given what we thought we knew about these teams. Their trajectories were intertwined as recently as a month ago. Again, for emphasis, the 49ers just lost by to the Raiders by plenty more than a touchdown.

Of course, we can’t write this game off since it hasn’t actually been played yet. All it takes is a close, competitive game to change the conversation. San Francisco has been gifted another chance to prove that their team is of interest. They don’t even have to win, they just have to show up. Last time they played the Seahawks they didn’t show up. As a Seahawks fan, it’s a lot easier to be interested in games against an opponent who shows up.

As much as we all want to dislike the 49ers, we kind of need them to be good. If the 49ers suck, then what’s the point in expending the necessary emotional energy to have strong feelings about them? If the Rams played in three straight NFC championship games, we would probably feel pretty strongly about them. But they haven’t, and so we don’t.

So please, San Francisco, try your damnedest. Pull out all the stops and really give this one your all. Please don’t suck as bad as you have for the last couple weeks. The Seahawks don’t need a fierce divisional rivalry, but boy oh boy is it ever fun. It’s a lot more fun to hate the 49ers when they’re good, and recently they’ve been distinctly not-good. So if we could get a glimpse at a decent San Francisco team tomorrow, that’d be nice. Especially since the Seahawks are gonna thump ’em, no matter how well they play.