Every division game in the NFL comes with added juice. For the 49ers and Rams, their matchups in the NFC West have felt extra charged since 2019 with both clubs vying for Super Bowl contention. While those games have received the most attention, 49ers wide receiver Deebo Samuel doesn’t believe the Rams are the team’s biggest rival. That title belongs to the Seattle Seahawks.
“There’s no secret. We just go out there and play ball,” Samuel said on the Candlestick Chronicles podcast. “I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s a rivalry. I would say Seattle is more so a rivalry with the back and forth, and how many times they’ve beat us and we’ve got a couple here and there. They’re playing really good right now, so we know what’s at hand when we get to that point, but right now we’re more focused on the Chargers.”
It makes sense that the 49ers would view Seattle as a greater rivalry, especially for a player like Samuel who missed the run of dominance by the Seahawks in their NFC West showdowns.
Since Samuel arrived in 2019, the 49ers are 2-5 against the Seahawks, though the five losses have been by an average of six points, and only one of those games was decided by more than seven. They haven’t met in the playoffs, but San Francisco did swing a Week 17 victory in Seattle in 2019 to secure the NFC West crown and a No. 1 seed in the NFC.
Meanwhile, the 49ers are 8-0 in the regular season against the Rams since Samuel arrived. LA did get San Francisco in the NFC championship game, but that one loss isn’t enough to lift them over the Seahawks in Samuel’s mind.
The 49ers have three division games left, including one against Seattle on Thursday Night Football in Week 15. That game could wind up deciding the NFC West, which would only add fuel to Samuel’s claim that it’s the Seahawks, not the Rams, that sit atop the 49ers’ list of biggest rivals.
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