Rivalry renewed at Allegiant Stadium on “Monday Night Football”
The two head coaches were at the center of the San Francisco 49ers-Seattle Seahawks epic early-2010s rivalry. Harbaugh and Carroll met nine times from 2011-14 (including playoffs), with Carroll’s Seahawks holding a 5-4 advantage, winning five of the past six games after Harbaugh’s Niners won the first three.
During that span, the 49ers and Seahawks were among the NFC’s top franchises, ranking second and third in the conference in wins, only trailing the Green Bay Packers (46). San Francisco was 44-19-1 overall under Harbaugh, who left to become head coach at Michigan in 2015, with three playoff berths and one Super Bowl appearance. Meanwhile, Seattle had a 43-21 record, also making three playoff appearances and reaching two Super Bowls, winning Super Bowl XLVIII.
Harbaugh and Carroll also met three times while the head coaches for the Stanford Cardinal and USC Trojans, respectively, with Harbaugh and Stanford memorably pulling off a 24-23 upset against No. 2 USC in 2007, his first season. The Cardinal later defeated the Trojans, 55-21, in 2009, the program’s largest margin of victory in the 101-game rivalry.
The stakes are high for both teams
The stakes are once again high when the two coaches meet on “Monday Night Football” in Week 2, with the winner moving to 2-0. Per Stats Perform, since 1990, when the NFL expanded the postseason to 12 teams, those that win their first two games make the playoffs 64.3 percent of the time (184 of 286), whereas those that are 1-1 reach the playoffs 41.6 percent of the time (211 of 507).
More recently, since the league moved to a 14-team playoff in 2020, the numbers are even more favorable to teams that begin the season 2-0, with them making the postseason at a 78.6 percent rate (33 of 42). Teams that begin 1-1 have made the playoffs 42.7 percent of the time (32 of 75).
Both the Chargers and Raiders are coming off impressive performances, with Los Angeles defeating the nine-time reigning AFC West champion Kansas City Chiefs in São Paulo, Brazil, last Friday. Meanwhile, the Raiders traveled cross country and beat the New England Patriots as a 2.5-point pregame underdog.
Quarterbacks Justin Herbert and Geno Smith both had big games and were two of three QBs in Week 1 to throw for at least 300 yards, joining Buffalo Bills signal-caller Josh Allen. Both appear in midseason form. Based on their quips this week, so are their head coaches. On Wednesday, Harbaugh lamented that because of their coaching rivalry, “I’m not on his Christmas card list.”
“He sends me a birthday card every year,” Carroll said in response.
It’s been over a decade since the two were on opposite sidelines, but based on how the week has gone so far, it’s as though no time has passed at all.
