I know SF's biggest rivals used to be the LA Rams, and later the Cowboys,but it seems like anywhere you read, SF Fans seem to truly hate Seattle Fans and the Seahawks. They don't really seem to care about the Rams or Cards (and this has been consistent IMO for awhile and not just as we have emerged this season as the top threat to their division supremecy). So are we locked and loaded as their main rival? Is it just Carroll/Harbaugh? Did they just come to hate us during the mid 2000's when we owned the NFCW? Will they revert back when the Rams become more competitive (especially if they eventually end up back in LA)?

On a related, but not really note, It seems like we have never had an exclusive true rival. I think Arizona is in the same boat, and if maybe the Holmgren/Hass heydays could have overlapped more with Warner's best years in AZ we could have established this.

Alot of the older SF fans will hate the Rams more than anyone else, that's a Rivalry that's been going on for decades

The newer fans will most likely hate Seattle given not just the similar styles of the teams, but the polar opposites of the head coaches and lets be real here; we're 2 dogs fighting for the same bone and from the looks on how both of us are building our teams, will continue to do so for the foreseeable future

IMO it's not a rivalry until we beat them as much as they beat us.........and so far Carroll is 0-3 against Harbaugh.

But yeah definitely the potential to be a long term rivalry if both teams stay competitive.

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I think one thing has to happen before it becomes Cowboys/49ers like in the 90's... both teams need to win Super Bowls. I will tell you things are certainly heating up though - I travel back/forth to the Bay Area all the time and nobody talks about the Rams or the Cardinals there at all. Seattle is the hated team. SF is a little unusual too because they have so many Raiders fans in the area - plus so many foreigners and adopt-a-team due to relocation people there. Overall though, I'd say for us it's definitely SF, for them we're probably trending as their top rivalry.

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And yet overall we're still ahead of them 13-12 all-time, and 11-9 since being in the same division. Of course there will be little streaks involved during an ongoing series.

Exactly, the rivalry didn't start when Jim Harbaugh got hired.

There's still a lot of hate left to give, this rivalry is in its infancy. And if there are still Whiner fans don't hate us now, they will by Monday morning.

The way both teams are set up right now, this could be like the Steelers / Ravens for a few years where you could argue the top two teams in the conference are in the division

True, but great rivalries are between great teams. Is Washington State vs. Oregon State a "great" rivalry cause they've played each other 75 times? Number of times played doesn't = rivalry.

Rivalries have to have history, and there's a history between Harbaugh and Carroll, "what's your deal man!" IMO no one cared about the 20 times we've played each other while we were both bad teams, or we were good but they weren't, and vice versa.

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If there is no Seahawk football in heaven, then we will never die.

The Seahawks who couldn't win on the road went on the road and beat the 49ers late in 2003 to make the playoffs. There was the Terrell Owens Sharpie game. There is history here. It's a young history as you have to expect from teams that have only shared a division for a decade, but it does pre-date Harbaugh.

It would take a decade of both teams being consistent winners for the Seahawks to be considered San Fran's rivals. In the early 2000's many considered the Rams and Seahawks as the biggest rivals in the NFCW. The Rams and 9ers have history, as well as the old NFCW rivals Falcons and Saints when they were in this division.

The Seahawks are probably like the Titans as the old Houston Oilers. Maybe a rivalry can be quickly generated, but I think it takes time. Even when the Seahawks were in the AFCW, the Seahawks were not considered by division opponents as rivals. The Chiefs, Broncos and Raiders were each other's rival. Bolts and Seahawks were just little brothers that needed to sit in the corner and keep their mouth shut. Seahawks fans felt like the Raiders, Broncos and to a lesser degree, Chiefs as their rivals but I never felt that was reciprocated. Notice how I left out the Bolts?

We will see what the 9er fans think but I doubt we are nothing more than a new fad rival until both sides have major pelts on the wall against one another. The past decade has help set the seed of resentment but major stakes helps.

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"Pray to the LORD now...Seattle are a bunch of heathen atheist Canadians."
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Ummm...no. Rivalries develop due to playing eachother. Teams have rivalries....coaches don't.

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"16 starts in 9 years is all you need to know." - Tsizzle
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Tell that to Carroll and Harbaugh......or Rex Ryan and Bellicheat.

So by your definition every team is a rivalry cause we play every team in the NFL eventually. IMO true rivalries have certain traits;

- long history of not only playing each other, but equal success (no one thinks Florida State vs Duke in football is a rivalry, cause FSU has won 99% of the time)
- mutual hatred from players, fans AND coaches
- signature games and plays

The Hawks and 49'ers certainly have the potential to become a great rivalry, but we're not there yet.

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don't sell your guys' short. I'd definitely say you guys are our biggest rival. When Sing was our HC, Arizona was our biggest. Sure, the 49ers have historic rivals like Cowboys, Rams, Giants, etc. But, the Hawks are definitely our biggest this season. You guys are competitive and Carrol being the HC obviously intensifies the rivalry.

LOL. Maybe in your mind. But definitely not in the mind of Mike Singletary. I recall a vindictive Mike Singletary investing an entire off season toward instilling in 49er players a hatred for the Seattle Seahawks prior to the opening game of what would thankfully be his final season on the west coast.

Not sure I agree JVille with the Singletary investment concept. Why would he care about the Seahawks? They hadn't done anything at the time for the past 2 seasons under Mora and a lame duck Holmgren. If anything he may have been pumping them up for an expected butt-whooping he intended to put on the Seahawks under a new coach in Pete Carroll. Remember, the 9ers considered the Seahawks as soft back then as described by MikeRob. If anything our style probably was a blight in Sing's mind, so I would say he felt disgust toward our style of football if anything. Not a rivalry.

The Dockett/9ers back and forth during and after the Cardinals Superbowl run was intense. I think you need to reconsider if your view matches what others felt during that time.

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"Pray to the LORD now...Seattle are a bunch of heathen atheist Canadians."
NFL GM: "How do you stop a Seahawk? Take away his doctor's prescription pad."”

I'm wasn't addressing what was taking place on the field during the season. Nor was I addressing the perceptions of fans. IMO ... Arizona was the 49er's biggest rivalry.

I was taking a shot at Singletary's state of mind prior to the opening day of his final season in San Francisco.

Edit: My appologies for any confusion.

The Seahawks beat Singletary's 49ers 34-13 on his first game as head coach.

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As a 49er fan in my mid-30s, the thought of the Rams conjures ghosts of Eric Dickerson & Co. That rivalry was great but simmered down. There was a slight resurgence with their Greatest Show on Turf, but the Niners weren't as competitive enough to make the most of the matchup. Jeff Fisher is building something special there in St. Louis. The Cowboys will always make my blood boil; it's a classic Conference rivalry with rich, historical relevance. The showdowns we had in the 90s was the REAL Super Bowl - a true clash of the titans.

This budding rivalry with the hawks may turn out to be a good one, if both teams remain competitive. The Harbaugh/Carroll aspect adds another dimension to it, which is great. I'm looking forward to both teams having divisional slobberknockers for years to come.

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When we came BACK to the NFC west the Rams were hot and we knocked them off and began our run. SF was a Holmgren historical thing and beating them was beating his previous team type rivalry, then the cheap hits on Hass turned it up a lot. Bad blood started to flow and intensify what was going on. The Harbaugh hiring and both of the teams now being relatively equal as far as talent and win loss records is just another level of turning up the volume and hitting the loud button as well.

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Actually, SF leads 14-13 all time, SEA leads 11-10 since we joined the NFCW. But it will be all tied up Sunday night.

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