Rain might make Seahawks versus 49ers game really ugly, hopefully

The Seattle Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers will be playing in wet and windy conditions for their Wild Card game. This could be good for the Seahawks. While both teams play in a part of the country that gets rain, Seattle is a bit more used to having to battle the elements as it rains quite a bit more in the PNW than in Santa Clara, California where the 49ers play.

At game time, the forecasted temperature is 58 degrees with winds around 11 MPH and a 58 percent chance of rain. But things get worse as the game goes on. If the game lasts three hours, about average for an NFL contest, by the end of it the teams could be facing a 90 percent chance of rain, including thunderstorms.

On paper, the 49ers are the better team. San Francisco has just as good of an offense as Seattle does and a much better defense. The Seahawks need all the breaks they can get. A slippery football can mean fumbles and Seattle knows how to knock a ball loose. Seattle was third in forced fumbles in the regular season with 18. The 49ers did have 16 forced fumbles of their own, however.

The weather could factor into the Seahawks and 49ers outcome

San Francisco also has a kind of offense that relies more on movement with their skill players at the line of scrimmage than Seattle. With running back Ken Walker III, Seattle runs between the tackles a bit more. This should mean Walker and his backups are less worried about slipping on the play. If – and it is a huge if – Seattle is able to run the ball effectively, they should be able to sustain more drives and shorten the game. If Seattle has a bunch of three-and-outs with lots of incompletions, Seattle will get blown out.

So maybe this is more of a hope than anything, but if the rain must come then let is do so and maybe help the Seahawks. The game could have a lot of turnovers. But a game full of chaos is probably just the way head coach Pete Carroll wants it.