Seattle Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers divisional round preview

For the third time in both of these franchise histories, the Seattle Seahawks will face off against the San Francisco 49ers in the postseason, so let's review the last two meetings of those games and preview this upcoming game on Saturday.

Both these teams have each won one game when facing off in the postseason, meaning splitting the head-to-head matchup,1-1, with the Seahawks taking the first game by a score of 23-17 in 2014 and the 49ers taking the second game by a score of 41-23 in 2023.

With these two past playoff games and the two times these two teams faced off earlier in the season, we are in for an all-time classic this time around for this divisional round matchup.

Just like the two playoff meetings, these two teams also split this season, with the 49ers taking the first game 17-13 and the Seahawks taking the second game 13-3.

The story lines of both of these games were the defensive play by both teams, with no team putting up more than 20 points, and the Seahawks holding this dynamic 49ers offense to just 3 points in the latest meeting and ultimately clinching the one seed.

Going into the third meeting this year, the narrative around the 49ers is whether they overcome this injury-riddled season with both star linebacker Fred Warner and star edge rusher Nick Bosa not playing. For most of the season and for the Seahawks, can they dominate the 49ers like they did to get into the spot they are in now?

Luckily for the 49ers, they have played basically their whole season with their two defenders not playing and are finding a bit of a stride, at least defensively, with the structure of this roster.

For Seattle, even in the game they lost, their defense has been stout against the 49ers and can give Sam Darnold and that offense the ability to take off and control the game.

With all the defense talk aside, this game can provide an offensive battle for both teams as well, with each team having playmakers on that side of the ball as well.

For the 49ers side, they have one of the league’s best running backs in Christian McCaffrey, and for Seattle, they have Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who led the league in receiving yards.

With these two star players on both teams, I think this game is going to be more of an offensive show than the last two meetings. With both Sam Darnold and Brock Purdy calling the plays for both teams, they can very easily light up the scoreboard and give us an all-time classic come Saturday Night.

Despite all the injuries and roadblocks that this team has been dealt with I think head coach, Kyle Shanahan, and this 49ers team will rally and become victorious by a score of 28-17 and by doing that they will advance and go to their fifth NFC Championship game in the last seven years.

Peyton Waddell is a third-year student majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email prw5142@psu.edu.