49ers–Seahawks rivalry
The 49ers–Seahawks rivalry is a National Football League rivalry between the San Francisco 49ers and Seattle Seahawks.
While the teams first met in, the rivalry did not develop until the early 2000s, specifically in, when the Seahawks were placed with the 49ers in the NFC West, allowing for two annual meetings between the teams.
The Seahawks lead the overall series, 33–24. The two teams have met three times in the National [Football League playoffs|playoffs], with Seattle winning two of three.
History
Since the teams became NFC West division rivals in 2002, the rivalry has grown considerably. The rivalry was previously insignificant, due to both teams having little history against one another and both suffering long stretches of mediocrity. For example, while the Seahawks won four straight division titles from 2004 to 2007, the 49ers finished in third or fourth place each season and did not have a winning season from 2003 to 2010. Likewise, the Seahawks suffered four straight losing seasons from 2008 to 2011. Despite their stretch of mediocrity, the Seahawks have remained competitive in games against the 49ers in those years.The rivalry intensified in 2011, when long-standing college rival coaches—former USC coach Pete Carroll and former Stanford head coach Jim Harbaugh—took over as head coaches, with Carroll becoming the Seahawks' head coach in, and Harbaugh becoming the 49ers coach in. Both teams drafted young, mobile quarterbacks to lead their franchises, Seattle's Russell Wilson and San Francisco's Colin Kaepernick. Both coaches turned their respective franchises into perennial playoff contenders, and from 2010 to 2014, either the Seahawks or the 49ers won the NFC West championship.
The two teams met in the 2013–14 NFL playoffs#NFC Championship Game: [Seattle Seahawks 23, San Francisco 49ers 17|2013 NFC Championship Game] in Seattle with a trip to Super Bowl XLVIII on the line, with the Seahawks winning 23–17. The game ended when Seahawks' cornerback Richard Sherman, whom Harbaugh previously coached at Stanford, tipped an end zone pass that led to a game-ending interception. Sherman had his famous postgame interview immediately afterwards, calling out 49ers wide receiver Michael Crabtree and claiming to be the "best corner in the game". Seattle went on to defeat the Denver Broncos 43–8 in Super Bowl XLVIII to win their first List of [Super Bowl champions|Super Bowl championship]. San Francisco had represented the NFC in a losing effort in Super Bowl XLVII the previous season. In 2018, Richard Sherman joined San Francisco and took them to Super Bowl LIV while coming a quarter short sparked the rivalry for a short while then it died down again.
In the 2025 NFL season, the two teams met in the playoffs for the third time, and this time Seattle won 41–6. This game was a rematch of the Week 18 game to determine the #1 seed in the NFC, which Seattle won 13–3.