The Seahawks will host the 49ers on Saturday in the divisional round of the playoffs next weekend at Lumen Field in a rematch of a big Week 18 showdown between the two teams.
The 49ers, the No. 6 seed in the NFC, won 23-19 at Philadelphia on Sunday in the wild card round to advance, and as the lowest seed to move on to the divisional round, they’ll head to Seattle. Had the Eagles won, the Seahawks would have hosted the fifth-seeded Rams, but instead the Rams will head to Chicago to face the Bears, the NFC’s No. 2 seed.
While the date for the game was announced Sunday night, the kickoff time will not be known until Monday. The Seahawks and 49ers will play at either 1:30 p.m. or at 5 p.m.
Seahawks Dominated in Week 18
The Seahawks and 49ers faced off in the final game of the regular season in a game to determine both the NFC West title and the No. 1 seed, and led by a dominant defensive effort, the Seahawks won 13-3. In that game, the Seahawks held the 49ers to their lowest point total in nine seasons under Kyle Shanahan since they scored three points in his first game as a head coach in 2017, and limited the 49ers to 173 yards, their lowest total under Shanahan.
The teams split the regular-season series, which bookended the regular-season schedule, with the 49ers winning 17-13 in Week 1 in Seattle before the Seahawks got the win last weekend in Santa Clara.
Macdonald on Facing a Familiar Opponent
“They’re a heck of a team. We’ve got to play great situational football. They’re so good on third down, really on both sides, the special teams—the starting field position was a big part of last game. We did a great job of taking care of the ball on offense, we attacked it on defense. We’ve got to be able to do that back at Lumen.”
This will be the first playoff game between the teams in Seattle since the Seahawks’ memorable NFC championship game win after the 2013 season that sent them to Super Bowl XLVIII. Their only other playoff meeting came in the wild card round of the 2022 season, with the 49ers winning at Levi’s Stadium in what, prior to this upcoming divisional round game, was Seattle’s most recent playoff game.
A Rare Home Playoff with Fans
Next weekend’s game at Lumen Field will be the Seahawks’ first home playoff game with fans in the stadium—they hosted a wild card game in an empty stadium following the 2020 regular season—since they beat the Lions in the wild card round during the 2016 season. Prior to that empty-stadium loss to the Rams five years ago, the Seahawks won 10 consecutive home playoff games dating back to the start of their Super Bowl run in 2005. The Seahawks have reached the Super Bowl in each of the three previous seasons that they earned the No. 1 seed.
John Boyle Seahawks.com Senior Reporter