49ers–Seahawks rivalry

NFC West foes since 2002, sharpened by Carroll vs. Harbaugh and the 2013 NFC title game.

The 49ers–Seahawks rivalry is the NFL rivalry between the San Francisco 49ers and the Seattle Seahawks. It took shape after the 2002 realignment put the two clubs in the NFC West, guaranteeing two meetings a year. Seattle leads the series 33–24, and the teams have met three times in the playoffs, with the Seahawks winning two.

Quick Facts

Location

San Francisco, Seattle

First meeting

September 26
1976; 49ers 37
Seahawks 21

Latest meeting

January 17
2026; Seahawks 41
49ers 6

Stadiums

49ers: Levi's Stadium; Seahawks: Lumen Field

Total meetings

Regular season

Seahawks: 31–23

Postseason

Seahawks: 2–1

Largest victory

49ers: 38–7 (1988); Seahawks: 41–3 (2005)

Facts from the source article.

Background

For most of the 2000s the series meant little, because the two teams were rarely good at the same time: Seattle won four straight division titles from 2004 to 2007 while San Francisco went without a winning season from 2003 to 2010. That changed in 2011, when two old college rivals ran the clubs, Pete Carroll (formerly of USC) in Seattle and Jim Harbaugh (formerly of Stanford) in San Francisco, each building around a young, mobile quarterback, Russell Wilson and Colin Kaepernick. From 2010 to 2014 one of the two won the NFC West every year. The peak was the 2013 NFC Championship Game in Seattle, a 23–17 Seahawks win ended when Richard Sherman, who had played for Harbaugh at Stanford, tipped a pass in the end zone into a game-ending interception.