It's kind of hard to explain, but I think it will be strengthened this Sunday.
Those of us who remember the old AFCWest days will remember how we hated our 'rival' division teams, especially the Raiders, Broncos, and to a certain extent, the Chiefs. I don't think many people hated the Chargers, but anyway.....the thing is, that the fans of those teams did not reciprocate that hatred much. They flat out didn't respect the Seahawks enough to think of us as 'rivals.' They were wrapped up in their rivalries between each other, and we were pretty much always the red-headed stepchild of the division. Even in our best years under Coach Knox, we were always on the outside looking in.
Fast forward to now. I'm starting to get that feeling towards our division foes, especially in StL and SF. Sure, you have to respect them as NFL franchises, but are they really our 'rivals?' We owned the Lambs for 4 years, beat them like 10 games in a row, and the Niners have only recently clawed their way out of a decade long bout of mediocrity for a year or two window of greatness that already looks to be on the decline. We owned this division for several years under Homie, and it looks like we're grabbing it back under Pete.
You can see this in the discussion around here. It's 49er week, and we're still talking about rival teams outside of the division, regarding who we'll meet in the playoffs. Sunday's game is as close to do or die as it can get for the Niners, but for us, it's just another week to go 1-0. The pressure is all on them.
Like I said, it's a strange feeling, but I like it.
Those of us who remember the old AFCWest days will remember how we hated our 'rival' division teams, especially the Raiders, Broncos, and to a certain extent, the Chiefs. I don't think many people hated the Chargers, but anyway.....the thing is, that the fans of those teams did not reciprocate that hatred much. They flat out didn't respect the Seahawks enough to think of us as 'rivals.' They were wrapped up in their rivalries between each other, and we were pretty much always the red-headed stepchild of the division. Even in our best years under Coach Knox, we were always on the outside looking in.
Fast forward to now. I'm starting to get that feeling towards our division foes, especially in StL and SF. Sure, you have to respect them as NFL franchises, but are they really our 'rivals?' We owned the Lambs for 4 years, beat them like 10 games in a row, and the Niners have only recently clawed their way out of a decade long bout of mediocrity for a year or two window of greatness that already looks to be on the decline. We owned this division for several years under Homie, and it looks like we're grabbing it back under Pete.
You can see this in the discussion around here. It's 49er week, and we're still talking about rival teams outside of the division, regarding who we'll meet in the playoffs. Sunday's game is as close to do or die as it can get for the Niners, but for us, it's just another week to go 1-0. The pressure is all on them.
Like I said, it's a strange feeling, but I like it.
