49ers, Seahawks’ rivalry roles reversed since last Thanksgiving tilt
The 49ers have taken the role of top dog in their NFC West rivalry against the Seattle Seahawks, having won three straight matchup
The San Francisco 49ers and Seattle Seahawks’ rivalry has been one of football’s main courses for more than a decade.
So it’s fitting that the two bitter foes, separated by just one game atop the NFC West, will play in prime time on Thanksgiving.
Neither team has played on Turkey Day since their memorable 2014 matchup in the Bay Area.
The actual game, a 19-3 Seahawks win featuring five combined field goals, was a slog. But the contest is indelibly remembered for what happened afterward, when a fully uniformed Russell Wilson and Richard Sherman reveled in the win by chowing down on oversized turkey legs on the Levi’s Stadium turf.
The enduring image remains a symbol of the demise of the Jim Harbaugh-era 49ers and the impending dominance Seattle would hold over its Bay Area adversaries for years to come.
The rivalry may not have the same peak luster that it had back then, but there’s still plenty of animosity on both sides. Just ask George Kittle, who told reporters earlier this week that, “(Seahawks fans) absolutely hate us, and what a great fan base to absolutely hate us.”
A lot has changed in the near-decade between the two rivals’ Thanksgiving tilts. The cast of characters, except for Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll, has nearly all turned over.
Harbaugh is at Michigan, in the middle of a legal fight over a potentially seismic cheating scandal. Wilson is in Denver, while his turkey teammate Sherman, the Niners’ No. 1 antagonist for years, is now, somehow, one of the team’s biggest allies.
And of course, Colin Kaepernick, who quarterbacked the Niners that year, hasn’t played since becoming a free agent in 2017 following his seasonlong protest of police brutality.
