SEATTLE – The Seahawks at least won’t have to do much studying to prepare for their first home playoff game in five years.
San Francisco’s 23-19 win in Philadelphia Sunday afternoon against the Eagles assured that the 49ers will come to Seattle to play the Seahawks in the divisional round next weekend.
Time and date were still pending as this was written.
The playoff matchup will be a rematch of the final game of Seattle’s regular season, a 13-3 win over the 49ers in Santa Clara a week ago Saturday that clinched the NFC West and number one seed in the conference for the Seahawks. It will also serve as a rubber match between the two as the 49ers beat Seattle at Lumen Field 17-13 in the season opener for both teams.
In a back-and-forth game against the Eagles that typified the first weekend of the NFL playoffs, the 49ers scored the go-ahead touchdown on a four-yard pass from Brock Purdy to Christian McCaffrey with 2:54 left.
That was the fourth lead change of the game.
The 49ers then stopped the Eagles on a fourth down at the San Francisco 21 with 40 seconds remaining.
SF’s win also means all three NFC West teams that qualified for the playoffs will play in the divisional round.
The Los Angeles Rams, who rallied to beat the Carolina Panthers 34-31 Saturday, will play at Chicago in the other divisional round game. The Bears rallied late to beat Green Bay 31-27.
The win did not come without a cost for the 49ers who lost star tight end George Kittle to a reported Achilles injury in the first half.
Had the Eagles beaten the 49ers, then the Rams would have come to Seattle.
Instead, the Seahawks now face the possibility of having to beat their two most heated NFC West rivals in consecutive weeks to get to the Super Bowl if LA gets by the Bears.
It will be the eighth time the Seahawks will play a division rival in the playoffs. That includes each of Seattle’s last two playoff games – a 41-23 loss at San Francisco following the 2022 season and the loss to the Rams at Lumen Field following the 2020 season.
Only one time previously has Seattle played the same opponent in consecutive weeks doing so against the Chargers in 1991 during the regular season with Seattle having a bye in between (the teams split, each winning on the road.
Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald, however, has done it before as defensive coordinator of the Ravens when Baltimore played at Cincinnati to end the regular season and then the following week in the playoffs. The Ravens lost both games, though they had rested some starters in the final regular-season game with a playoff spot secured.
It will be the third time the Seahawks have played the 49ers and the second at home. Seahawks fans may not need much reminding of the first – Seattle’s 23-17 win in the NFC Championship Game following the 2014 season, after which the Seahawks beat Denver for the only Super Bowl title in franchise history.
The divisional game against the 49ers will be the first post-season game played at Lumen Field since Jan. 9, 2021 when the Seahawks lost to the Rams in a wild card playoff game 30-20. That game was played without fans due to COVID-19.
The last post-season game played at Lumen Field in front of fans came on Jan. 7, 2017 when the Seahawks beat the Detroit Lions 26-6 in a wild card playoff game.
Defensive lineman Leonard Williams, who has played in just two playoff games in 11 seasons in the NFL, both with the Giants in 2022, was already anticipating last week what the atmosphere will be next weekend.
“I’m so excited,” Williams said. “I love playing in Lumen Field. Even from the outside perspective it’s one of the best stadiums to play in. Being part of this organization and now actually playing in the stadium as a home team, it’s even more electric. You know, bringing the playoff games here is going to be incredible.”