We’re just hours away from kickoff between the Seattle Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers. While Seattle finally ended its losing streak to the Niners last November, the Lumen Field losing streak sits at three. No NFC West opponent has ever beaten the Seahawks in Seattle for four consecutive seasons, and I don’t want to see that realized by end of Sunday afternoon.
If you’re new to this series, these five predictions come in different flavors: Bold, Seahawks offense, Seahawks defense, opposition, and
game/final score. Pretty simple, right? Let’s get to it!
Bold prediction: The Seahawks never trail from start to finish
You already know this means that I’m not picking the Seahawks to lose, so that spoils the game prediction but I’m fine with that. A common them in San Francisco’s five straight wins over Seattle was having total dominance in terms of time spent with the lead. You know how many seconds the Seahawks led against the 49ers over their last three home games? Zero minutes, zero seconds.
I think that even if Seattle doesn’t blow San Francisco out (spoiler: I’m not picking a blowout), the Seahawks will get an early lead and other than maybe an early tie, never fall behind in the game.
Seahawks offense prediction: Cooper Kupp is Seattle’s leading receiver in catches
The last time Kupp played the 49ers in a Rams uniform, he was held catchless for just the third time in his career. Some of Kupp’s biggest games have come against San Francisco, including his 11/142/2 masterclass in the NFC Championship back in the 2021 season.
While Jaxon Smith-Njigba will surely be Seattle’s leading receiver for the season, I believe Kupp will play a big role on third down and in the overall quick game of the Seahawks passing offense, allowing him to rack up a lot of receptions, even if not for a lot of yards. The local kid will do his fellow Washingtonians proud.
Seahawks defense prediction: Seattle forces multiple takeaways
The turnover count during San Francisco’s three-year stretch was embarrassingly lopsided; Seattle gave it away 14 times to San Francisco’s 4, and the 49ers had four games out of seven without a turnover committed. The Seahawks have not taken care of the ball well against the 49ers in recent games and the defense has usually been outmatched and unable to generate takeaways.
That changes this afternoon, with Brock Purdy getting intercepted once and someone not named Purdy loses a fumble. We’ll go with Brian Robinson in his debut just for fun; you thought I’d go with Marquez Valdes-Scantling didn’t you?
49ers prediction: Jake Moody misses at least one field goal
The Seahawks special teams has major question marks entering this season, but the 49ers’ special teams is very much dependent on whether or not Jake Moody can figure his inconsistencies out. The 2023 third-round pick (hahahahahaha) is a sub-80% field goal kicker through two seasons, which is terrible. He missed 10 field goals last season and admittedly missed some time due to injury, but he had a shaky preseason last month and shouldn’t get the benefit of the doubt in terms of reliability. I’m banking on Moody missing from 40+.
Game prediction: Seahawks win by a close-ish margin
Again, the last prediction was given away by the bold prediction. Sort of. Leading all the way doesn’t mean a blowout. I would be pleasantly surprised if Seattle just wrecked the 49ers by 20+ points or something like that, but it’s Week 1 and there is an element of feel-out to these games. It might be a slow burner where the Seahawks pull away in the second half, with Sam Darnold converting timely passes and Kenneth Walker III and Zach Charbonnet breaking down a tired 49ers defense.
I’ll go with the Seahawks winning 26-14, with the score 20-14 entering the fourth quarter before a dagger touchdown (with a missed two-point conversion) putting the game out of reach for San Francisco.
Make your own predictions in the comments!
