San Francisco (7-6) will be looking for revenge against NFC West rival Seattle (9-4) for the Thanksgiving night beat down the Seahawks issued in Santa Clara, Calif. The 49ers are pretty much out of the playoff hunt after losing to the Oakland Raiders (2-11) 24-13 in Oakland last Sunday; while the Seahawks are looking to pick up their tenth win and stay in the hunt for the NFC West championship.

Russell Wilson’s consistent performance throughout the season has kept Seattle in the playoff hunt. (Courtesy of Seahawks.com)

Seattle and San Francisco are two franchises going in completely different directions over the last few weeks. The Seahawks have won their last four games, including an epic beat down of the NFC East leading Philadelphia Eagles, in Philadelphia, Pa. It was an impressive win over a current playoff team that shows the Seahawks are back and can make a run at the NFC West title over the last three weeks. In fact, if Seattle wins out they win the West.

Meanwhile, San Francisco has lost two of its last three games and could be eliminated from the NFC West title race with a loss on Sunday. The 49ers still have a strong defense, but its spending far too much time on the field during the last couple of games…thanks to quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s ill-advised passes over the last couple of weeks.

When these two teams met two weeks ago, Kaepernick threw two interceptions straight at cornerback Richard Sherman. Both of those passe attempts should not have been made, but Kaepernick (apparently) decided that he was going to show everyone he wasn’t scared of Sherman; and Sherman made him look like a fool. If Kaepernick continues towards Sherman’s side of the field, then the 49ers don’t stand a chance against the Seahawks. That being said, if Kaepernick has learned his lesson than the game on Sunday won’t be nearly as lopsided the game on Thanksgiving was.

While Kaepernick struggled two weeks ago, Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson put together a solid performance against the 49ers. Wilson completed 68.7% of his passes for 236 yards (10.73 yards per completion) with one touchdown and no interceptions.  The passing attack wasn’t a key part of Seattle’s victory in Santa Clara, but it helped to open up the ground game; and that’s exactly what it’s going to have to do on Sunday if the Seahawks are going to win and stay in the NFC West title race.

For Seattle to complete the sweep of San Francisco on Sunday, the Hawks are going to have to be in control of the pace of the game. Lynch is going to have to be a major component of the game plan, as he has helped take a lot of the pressure off of the offensive line. He also was extremely effective against the Niners the last time these two teams met — 20 carries, 104 yards, 5.2 yards per carry, and no fumbles.

Prediction

San Francisco 17

Seattle 28

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