The stage is set – two rivals in the final game of the regular season vying for the division title and the conference’s No. 1 playoff seed.
San Francisco cornerback Deommodore Lenoir never is one to shy away from a battle, and he let that be known for the Seattle Seahawks.
“They know what time it is, I ain’t got to say too much,” Lenoir told reporters after the 49ers’ 42-38 win over the Chicago Bears on Sunday.
Saturday night’s matchup between the 49ers and Seahawks will be almost four months after their first showdown in Week 1, which San Francisco won 17-13 in a thriller to kick off the season.
After a rollercoaster season, the 49ers remarkably are in a spot which would have been unimaginable at the end of October when the team dropped to a 5-3 record.
San Francisco is 7-1 since, and Lenoir and the 49ers are brimming with confidence.
“It’s a blessing. A lot of people counted us out,” Lenoir explained. “To everybody else, we [weren’t] supposed to be where we’re at now. So, it’s just proving the doubters wrong, it just feels great.”
With the game on Saturday, it’s a short week of rest for the 49ers. It’s not ideal, but the opportunity to clinch home field advantage for the playoffs with a win over their division rivals makes for a sweet moment for coach Kyle Shanahan’s team.
“I mean, we’ve earned this. This is the game that we want,” Shanahan said. “We love that it’s here. We’d love an opportunity to never leave here again this year. And we’ve got that opportunity Saturday night.”
The 49ers are 7-1 against the Seahawks in their last eight matchups, including a San Francisco win in the wild-card round of the 2022 NFL Playoffs.
Saturday’s winner-take-all matchup has the makings of a playoff atmosphere at Levi’s Stadium.
“It’s playoff ball – playoff ball been started for us though,” Lenoir said. “We just continue to do what we’re doing and try to keep the opponent out of the end zone… and win the game.”
The upcoming matchup also is reminiscent of the two teams playing for the NFC West title in the final game of the 2019 season. The 49ers stopped the Seahawks on a fourth-down play at the goal line to hold on to a 26-21 win to clinch the division title and the No. 1 seed that season.
It’s fair to say that both the 49ers and the Seahawks, as Lenoir said, know what time it is.