Games played between the 49ers and Seattle Seahawks hardly ever disappoint, and their upcoming matchup has an extra layer added to an already-intense rivalry.
The teams will meet for the third time this 2022 NFL season when they go head-to-head in the NFC Wild Card Game on Saturday at Levi’s Stadium. San Francisco won both of the previous contests, but Seattle’s star wide receiver DK Metcalf recognized the difficulties of beating a team three times.
“It’s a tough matchup always,” Metcalf told reporters Tuesday. “They’re probably one of our, in my mind, biggest rivalry. For this season, it’s going to be our third time playing them so all I know is it’s going to be hard to beat a team three times.
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“So I’m looking forward to the matchup. I know their defense is going to come ready. I know the offense is going to be ready. I know we gon’ be ready. So I’m just looking forward to the matchup.”
Playing a team three times in a season isn’t typical, but when it happens, that third matchup usually has a bizarre twist to it. The 49ers are all too familiar with that feeling.
Last season, the 49ers beat the Los Angeles Rams twice and then met them again in the NFC Championship Game, where they lost by a field goal and their Super Bowl LVI hopes were shattered.
One year later, they’ll be in a similar situation. But 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan doesn’t think much about it and his preparation for the game is business as usual.
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“I don’t really look at it as you have beat someone three times,” Shanahan said on a conference call with reporters on Tuesday. “I just look at it as we got to beat them on Saturday.
“I don’t think the other games have anything to do with it. It all comes down to this.”
For Metcalf, he knows what a meeting with the 49ers means. Since his rookie season in 2019, he’s got the full rivalry experience and has fully embraced it. And he thinks the past matchups with the 49ers benefit the Seahawks. The two teams know each other as well as any other team possibly could.
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But that doesn’t take away from the tension leading up to the game.
“We know their personnel, we know their core plays,” Metcalf said. “But there’s always some wrinkles that they’re going to try to throw at us to try to and get off their tendencies. But at the end of the day, it’s still going to be them versus us. They’re still going to run their same plays and their same defenses and we just have to stop them and score more points than them this time around.”
“It’s hard to beat anybody three times. For us, it’s the playoffs, the stakes are higher this time. It’s win or go home. I think they’re going to get our best shot, for sure.”