The Seahawks now know exactly when they will play their playoff opener.
The NFL announced Monday night first-seed Seattle (14-3) will host sixth-seeded San Francisco (13-5) on Saturday at Lumen Field at 5 p.m. in the NFC divisional playoffs. The game will air on FOX television, Channel 13 locally.
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The league selected the Buffalo Bills at top-seeded Denver in the AFC for Saturday at 1:30 p.m.
The fifth-seeded Los Angeles Rams (13-5) will play the second-seeded Bears (12-6) in Chicago in the other NFC divisional game. That will be Sunday at 3:30 p.m. Pacific Time.
The winners from Seahawks-49ers and Bears-Rams will play for the NFC championship Sunday, Jan. 25. The winner of that advances to Super Bowl 60 Feb. 8 in Santa Clara, California.
The NFC’s top seed has played on the Saturday of the divisional round every playoffs since the end of the 2019 season. Including the AFC, at least one of the two conference seeds have played on that Saturday in round two every year since the 2016 season.
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The league likes to reward the No. 1 seeds with the advantage of an extra day of rest and preparation should they win in divisional round to reach the conference championship games. Those are on the following Sunday, Jan. 25.
This NFC West is the fourth division all-time to get three teams into a divisional round in the same NFL postseason. The others: the 2022 NFC East, the 1997 NFC Central and 1992 NFC East. In each previous instance, one of those three teams from the same division advanced to the Super Bowl.
Zach Charbonnet (26) of the Seattle Seahawks scores a touchdown against the San Francisco 49ers during the first quarter of a game at Levi’s Stadium on Jan. 3, 2026 in Santa Clara, Calif.
Seattle split its two division games against San Francisco this season.
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In Week 1 in September, the 49ers led 17-13 late in the game when Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold lost a fumble near the San Francisco 10-yard line in the final seconds of the game to ensure the Niners’ seventh victory in eight games against the Seahawks.
In Week 18 on Jan. 3 in Santa Clara, coach Mike Macdonald’s Seahawks defense dominated Kyle Shanahan’s offense in the NFC West title game. Seattle held San Francisco to 127 yards in a 13-3 win. It was the 49ers’ fewest points in a game in nine years.
This is the first time since 1991 the Seahawks have played the same opponent in consecutive games.
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“It’s maybe an accelerated time frame than you normally would from another divisional game that you play twice, with not quite enough sample in between to see where they’re going,” Macdonald said Monday of the Niners. “So you’re really going off how you felt like you played the game, things you did well, maybe where you think they might take things.”
Seattle Seahawks head coach Mike MacDonald smiles after the Seattle Seahawks 38-37 overtime victory at Lumen Field, on Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025, in Seattle.