On the 49ers: Long losing streak in Seattle doesn’t play in locker room

Like any good team, the 49ers have a confidence about them going into Sunday’s key game against the Seahawks at CenturyLink Field.

And yes, players and coaches know what’s happened there for much of the last decade. San Francisco hasn’t won in the canopied house of horrors since 2011 while a number of those games haven’t been close.

But this 49ers team is different. The talent is the best its been since Jim Harbaugh was coach. Goals have crystallized into championship or bust.

The weaknesses are on the margins of the roster (injuries to backups along the defensive line and shaky play from the offensive line recently). There isn’t a glaring deficiency like previous iterations of the team that often had fans thinking about draft positioning in Week 17, not playoff seeding. These 49ers rank in the top eight or better in scoring, yards, opponents’ scoring and opponents’ yards.

A loss, meanwhile means the 49ers would have to win three straight road games to get to the Super Bowl, which could mean trips back to New Orleans or frigid Green Bay — or another game against Seattle. It would likely start with a trip to Philadelphia in the Wild Card round, which would be difficult after playing the late game Sunday.

The last six Super Bowl winners have bye weeks. The last team to play on Wild Card weekend and hoist a Lombardi Trophy was the Ravens by beating the 49ers in February of 2013.

“I’ve seen teams clinch home-field advantage and have a bye week and I’ve seen that completely backfire on that team,” 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan said. “I’ve seen people have to win three in a row the hard way and they rally together and they just do it.”

Shanahan says 49ers have the weapons to win

Shanahan believes he has the quarterback, the weapons and the defense to go into Seattle, win and clinch the No. 1 seed in the NFC with a 13-3 record, which would be an impressive feat given the team won just 12 games over the previous three seasons combined.

But that nine-game losing streak, including the epic 2013 NFC Championship game, is hardly on the minds of Shanahan or his players.

“We’re playing a good team that we know well and we know it’s going to be in a tough environment,” Shanahan said. “What’s happened in the past or what’s going to happen in the future has nothing to do with the three and a half hours on Sunday.”

To Shanahan’s point, Jimmy Garoppolo will making his first career start at “The ‘Clink.” How he plays has nothing to do with Colin Kaepernick, Blaine Gabbert or Nick Mullens’ fruitless outings in years past against Russell Wilson, whom the 49ers haven’t beaten in Seattle.

Staley is the only 49er on the roster on the team when Michael Crabtree saved Christmas in 2011 with a 41-yard catch that set up the late game-winning field goal from David Akers. (Tarvaris Jackson was the Seahawks’ quarterback in that game.)

The sense of urgency from 49ers players this week stems from the need for a first-round bye and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. It’s not about exercising demons from an eight-year losing streak in the Emerald City.

“It’s completely new teams every single year,” Staley said, when asked if the team is thinking about the drought. “This team is completely new from what it was last year.”

Indeed, the 49ers have a healthy Garoppolo who enters the game fourth in the NFL with 27 touchdown passes. His 3,693 yards are the most by a San Francisco quarterback since Jeff Garcia in 2000 (4,278).

If Garoppolo throws for 307 yards Sunday, he’ll have just the fourth 4,000-yard season in team history, something Joe Montana never accomplished, albeit in a far different era with different rules.

“It’s hostile. It gets loud,” Garoppolo said, recalling his vantage point last December while recovering from his knee injury. “Crowd’s chirping at you and everything on the sideline. That’s what makes football great, especially this time of year. You couldn’t ask for anything more in December.

“... I think these division games are always big. I think the level of intensity of these games is real. If you don’t know that going into it, you’re going to be in a bad spot.”

Kittle, Sanders give 49ers confidence

The reasoning for San Francisco’s confidence comes from a few different sources.

First, they have their best offensive player, tight end George Kittle, back in the lineup after he watched the overtime loss Nov. 11 from a luxury suite eight stories above the field.

Second, receiver Emmanuel Sanders left the Nov. 11 loss early while dealing with a rib injury. Sanders is healthier this week after catching a 46-yard bomb to convert a third-and-16 and put San Francisco in range for the game-winning field goal against the Rams.

Third, the 49ers think they gifted Seattle that win in November. Garoppolo led a game-tying field goal drive as regulation expired even after Seattle scored 21 points resulting from San Francisco’s turnovers, including a Jadeveon Clowney fumble return for a touchdown. Clowney, of course, was matched up with a hobbled Staley, who said this week its the best he’s felt all season.

And that was before rookie kicker Chase McLaughlin, now a member of the Indianapolis Colts, missed a game-winning field goal in overtime.

Finally, the 49ers have difficult road games under their belt from earlier this month when they lost a close one to the Ravens on Dec. 1 and beat the Saints at the Superdome in the best game of the year a week later.

“I thought our whole entire season our road mechanics have gone very well,” Staley said. “You go on the road, you pack your run game, pack your defense and it’s something we’ve been doing very well.”

San Francisco has a strong case to make as the better team. Its plus-164 point differential dwarfs Seattle’s plus-12 (the lowest of any playoff team heading into the final week) while the two clubs have common opponents in 13 of 15 games. The Seahawks have one victory by eight points or more. The 49ers have eight.

One of the big stories leading into the game is the return of retired running back Marshawn Lynch, who has served as the match that lights the fire of the 12s at CenturyLink Field. San Francisco has mostly downplayed the significance of Lynch’s return.

The key, the team will tell you, is playing like it has for the majority of the season.

“Yeah, it would be sweet,” Kittle said when asked about ending the losing streak in Seattle. “But we’re just going to take it in like any other road trip.”