The San Francisco 49ers begin their 2025 campaign against the Seattle Seahawks. Weirdness doesn’t begin to describe what happens when these two teams meet. A five-game winning streak over the Seahawks was snapped in Week 11 of the 2024 season when the 49ers imploded (as the 2024 San Francisco 49ers tended to do) and then-Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith strutted into the end zone.
The 49ers go to Lumen Field for this game, a place Brock Purdy is yet to lose, as of this writing. Given the extensive
history between these two teams during 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan’s tenure, I thought it would be fitting to share the story thus far in this rivalry. We start before Purdy arrives.
The era of our quarterback: B.B.P: Before Brock Purdy
Whenever you think of the 49ers under Kyle Shanahan being bad, think of 2017. This is when they were definitely not good. They drew the Seahawks in Week 2, at then-CenturyLink field in a 12-9 snozefest. The 49ers almost had a chance of pulling this out-field goal-ing the Seahawks to death, until the fourth quarter rolled around and Russell Wilson did some fourth-quarter theatrics to score a touchdown with seven minutes left. In true Seahawks fashion, the extra point was missed, leaving an opening for the 49ers to tie the game. The next drive ended in a punt, and the Seahawks sucked up what little time remained.
The home game in Week 12 was not much better, at least on the win-loss record. And for a majority of the game, it wasn’t much different from what you’ve seen, until the final minute. Quarterback C.J. Beathard left the game after an injury, and Jimmy Garoppolo, fresh off his trade more than a month earlier to the game, came in for his first action with the team. What followed was Garoppolo taking the team down the field efficiently and finding Louis Murphy Jr. for a touchdown as time expired
This made the score 24-13 Seahawks. That’s not important. What was important to this series was the transformation of the 49ers into Kyle Shanahan’s 49ers. From then on, until the injuries mounted, they were no longer an “easy” win on the schedule.
In 2018, the two would not meet until Week 13. Unfortunately, it was obvious a loss was in the cards since Garoppolo suffered a season-ending knee injury in Week 3 against the Kansas City Chiefs. The Seahawks took an early 20-3 lead, and the game ended 43-16. Another game where the less said, the better.
Much like 2017, there were some moral victories. The 49ers faced the Seahawks two weeks later in a game with the team on opposite ends of the spectrum: the Seahawks chasing a playoff spot, the 49ers in the conversation for the No. 1 pick. Despite those differences, the 49ers pulled out a win. It is also one of those rare times you see the 49ers’ special teams take a kickoff back for a touchdown.
With a field goal in overtime, the 49ers beat the Seahawks 26-23, and that wild-card berth that the Seahawks thought was a certainty had to wait another week. It was also emotional for cornerback Richard Sherman, who had come to the 49ers in the 2018 offseason after the Seahawks cut him.
It wasn’t until the following year that the 49ers would finally get the monkey off their backs…at least for a year.
2019 saw the Seahawks back and being pesky as ever, with that football luck some 49ers fans have criticized them for in full force. This game, on Monday Night Football at Levi’s Stadium, had the 49ers at 9-0. That Seahawk luck had to kick in somewhere, and in this case, it was the kicker. And the tight end.
Both George Kittle and Robbie Gould were out of this contest, and the absence of those two players leveled the playing field (another 49ers’ staple). In for Gould was kicker Chase McLaughlin. Despite these setbacks, the 49ers had a shot to end this thing in overtime, but McLaughlin shanked a field goal that Robbie Gould would make in his sleep. The Seahawks got the ball and hit a field goal as time expired to give the 49ers their first loss of the year. And when you think of the history between these two teams, it was a weird, weird loss. One that came down to a kicker being injured.
What is notable is the follow-up game in CenturyLink Field. This game decided the NFC West, and the San Francisco 49ers hadn’t won there in almost half a decade. More craziness and outright weirdness ensued in the game with phantom holds, extra seconds on play clocks, laterals, and the Seattle Seahawks getting a delay of game at the worst possible time (or best, if you’re a 49ers fan). The penalty pushed back the 1st-and-goal a few yards to give the 49ers breathing room. After three plays—and a no-call on pass interference that benefitted the 49ers, something YOU NEVER see—fourth-and-goal came up, which transpired with linebacker Dre Greenlaw doing his best Dan Bunz impression.
Wild ending, weird game. Exactly what you expect from these two teams.
The 2020 season brought the usual rash of 49ers injuries. The Seahawks won both games, one in Week 8 — a 37–27 drubbing in Seattle — and the other a 26–23 comeback in a game that only got exciting in the fourth quarter, with the Seahawks trailing by six points to start. It’s worth noting that this was the COVID year.
If you thought the 2020 season was strange, 2021 took it up a notch, even if there was no COVID. This was Trey Lance’s rookie season, backing up Jimmy Garoppolo. While Lance was called on for some package plays (notably Week 1 against the Detroit Lions), the Seattle game was the first time he actually came in to lead the offense on more than one play, when Garoppolo went down with a calf injury that sidelined him through the following week against the Arizona Cardinals. Trey Lance played through the entire second half. Looking back, that might be the only memory of this one.
Was Lance bad? Depends on who you ask. He looked like a rookie is the best way to describe his play. A lot of ducks, a lot of runs up the middle. If anything, Lance’s speed (or the misleading aspect of it) was on display and may have been the first sign he wasn’t as fast as advertised.
Before the third quarter was over the game went 21–7 Seahawks, but it wasn’t Lance’s fault. The Seahawks stormed down the field against what was a decent 49ers defense that day to score one touchdown, and then the 49ers’ special teams did what you hope they won’t do in 2025 — muffed the ensuing kickoff.
Lance had some moments, notably a 67-yard touchdown pass to Deebo Samuel. But Samuel was wide open, and the throw wasn’t exactly a tight spiral. In the fourth quarter, the 49ers had a chance to take over, but a lack of urgency prevented them from getting the ball into the end zone with just over a minute left. They obviously didn’t recover the kickoff. Once again, the Seahawks won.
The game in Seattle went a different way. The 49ers still lost, but many of us thought they might pull this one out. At one point, they were in control with a 10-point lead and matched a Seahawks touchdown with one of their own to keep the lead, even though the extra point was missed.
But then the officials made their presence felt with a pair of controversial roughing-the-passer calls to help move the Seahawks down the field and get another touchdown before the first half came to an end. The 49ers’ special teams felt nostalgic about the last game in 2021 and coughed up the opening kickoff to allow the Seahawks another touchdown rather quickly, and suddenly that nice lead went “poof.”
An underlying theme of this entire recap is the 49ers’ special teams. Please be good this year. Or at least less bad.
The San Francisco 49ers still had a chance to win this thing. In the fourth quarter, with an opportunity to put the game out of reach, the Seattle Seahawks fumbled near the 49ers’ goal line. The 49ers recovered, and an efficient offense drove down the field. This was despite the officials calling penalties like a phantom holding flag after Jimmy Garoppolo scrambled for a few yards. The 49ers made it to the Seahawks’ 4-yard line. Then an arguable pass interference no-call and a batted ball left the 49ers walking away as losers. Kyle Shanahan later said that had the 49ers managed to get it into the end zone, they would have gone for two.
Despite Garoppolo having his usual bonehead interceptions that fans have come to expect, he actually looked stellar in the final minutes—until his fourth-down pass got batted away. Of course, the era was about to change.
The era of our quarterback: A.B.P. After Brock Purdy
As you know, Brock Purdy was drafted with the final pick of the 2022 NFL draft. And if you knew he would be starting that same year, once you heard his name, you are a liar. Purdy was No. 3 on the depth chart behind Trey Lance and Jimmy Garoppolo. This is where we start to see the Seahawks lot of games against the 49ers. That shift didn’t come without setbacks and turning points that would change the 49ers’ future forever.
The first came in Week 2 of the 2022 NFL season. The Seahawks came to Levi’s Stadium, and the 49ers had just finished playing in a monsoon against the Chicago Bears in Trey Lance’s first game, where he was officially handed the keys. On the Seahawks side, Russell Wilson was gone, and Geno Smith was in. So, logic said the next few years would be Lance vs. Smith, right? Wrong.
A few plays in, Lance broke his ankle and was done for the season. That was the bad part; the good part was Garoppolo coming in and the 49ers walking away with a win. Something you didn’t see much then. I think this video, which I made back then with sound effects, displays the emotions perfectly:
The 49ers started Week 2 of the season with a loss to the Seattle Seahawks. This was supposed to be the game that put Jimmy Garoppolo back into the driver’s seat and had the 49ers chasing another Super Bowl run, right? Well, that was until the Miami Dolphins game, where Garoppolo himself went down with an injury and Purdy got his shot. Yes, there were some rookie things to start, like some ducks thrown, but at the same time, he looked the part. By the second half of that Miami game, you might have forgotten he was a rookie.
The 49ers went to the Seahawks in Week 15 with the NFC West crown on the line—something they hadn’t held since the 2019 season-ending Dre Greenlaw body slam at the goal line. Only this time, it was Brock Purdy, and he wasn’t scared of any Lumen Field crowd. Words don’t do this game justice, so I’ll just say watch the recap here.
There are two highlights worth pointing out. First is a play later nicknamed “Hollywood.” The play was two fake passes and then a dart to the tight end. And Purdy played it beautifully:
This is even better with the ESPN Brazil call.
The other was Purdy’s scamper. On third-and-1, Purdy rolled out and took off, sliding (something San Francisco 49ers fans don’t often see from their quarterbacks) and extending his arm to get the first down. Jordan Mason would later take the ball to the 1-yard line, but getting the fresh set of downs with just over two minutes left via Purdy’s rollout was pretty much the dagger to this game.
The 49ers won the NFC West, and Brock Purdy won his first start in Seattle. As of this writing, Brock Purdy has never lost in Seattle either.
2023 brought change. This game was on Thanksgiving. If you want the history of the Thanksgiving fiasco, you can go here. The short story: the Seattle Seahawks went into Levi’s Stadium on Thanksgiving in 2015 and beat the 49ers 19–3, then ate a turkey feast on the 49ers’ field. That infuriated fans.
To kick things off for 2023, the first game was in Seattle, with a chance for the 49ers to have their revenge. The 49ers went into Seattle 7–3, and in a game, 49ers fans will say almost every second was pure Thanksgiving entertainment, and they had their way with them. The 49ers won 31–13, which included another Brock Purdy window throw to Brandon Aiyuk, the kind you only see from the better quarterbacks.
This game was also remembered as one of the many games that gave evidence that then-49ers defensive coordinator Steve Wilks was not long for the job. His game plan for Charvarius Ward was reportedly overwritten by John Lynch once word came back that Wilks wasn’t covering Seahawks wide receiver D.K. Metcalf.
The second game of the year, played only two weeks later, was more competitive. The Seahawks didn’t have Geno Smith and started Drew Lock. The 49ers built a 21–10 lead by halftime, but the Seahawks stormed back. One of their touchdowns came with the Seahawks doing what they do best: copying other teams. They ran their own version of “Hollywood” to get into the end zone. They failed the two-point conversion to make it 21–16, but if you know the weirdness of this rivalry, you were a little nervous. That was until Purdy turned it around and went on a tear.
Despite Brandon Aiyuk fumbling the ball in the fourth quarter and the 49ers’ defense having its usual Steve Wilks brain farts, Fred Warner sealed it with an interception. Seattle wide receiver D.K. Metcalf got ejected after Warner’s interception—something Metcalf had a knack for.
Regardless, the 49ers began another winning streak over the Seahawks, sweeping them for two seasons in a row—four straight wins.
The sweep continued in 2024. Despite injuries and everything else, you could still count on a trip to Lumen Field to right the ship. The rookies of 2024 stepped up, and once again, Brock Purdy left Seattle undefeated.
Unfortunately, that was where the streak stopped. In the second meeting of 2024, the 49ers’ issues caught up. The two teams traded leads throughout, with the 49ers going up 17–13. The ensuing defensive performance, however, was the final straw that gave the Seahawks the game. Looking back, this might have been the drive that put the nail in the coffin of Nick Sorensen’s career as 49ers defensive coordinator.
The 49ers bent and bent and bent until Geno Smith finally managed to waltz in on a 12-yard scamper for a touchdown. This was after Smith had already hurried for a batch of yards just running by defenders.
Probably one of the more painful losses to the Seahawks. Defensive injuries had mounted, and the 49ers were in a bad spot. But the question was how they could let someone like Smith walk into the end zone.
And there you have it. A batch of disappointing games, a brief glimmer of hope, and eventually a stretch of five straight wins over the Seattle Seahawks. Yes, after winning in Levi’s in that final game, you got all the jargon that comes with a “disappointing win,” but it really was a bad season. No one likes the 49ers losing to the Seahawks, but the Seahawks caught the 49ers on their worst day—something that happens often in this rivalry.
Today, Brock Purdy returns to Seattle. He hasn’t lost there in his three years in the league. That’s all you need to know.
