The San Francisco 49ers have a lot of reasons to root against the Seattle Seahawks in their Super Bowl 60 matchup with the New England Patriots, which takes place at none other than Levi's Stadium.
For starters, of course, the Niners and Seahawks have been rivals in the NFC West since Seattle switched conferences as part of the NFL's realignment to accommodate the arrival of the Houston Texans to the league in 2002.
But then there's the obvious matter of recent events. In Week 18, the 49ers and Seahawks squared off in a winner-take-all battle to decide both the NFC West and the No. 1 seed in the conference, which Seattle took by a score of 13-3.
And after San Francisco set up a rematch with a 23-19 victory over the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles in the Wild Card round, the Seahawks completely embarrassed Kyle Shanahan's squad in the divisional round, cruising to a 41-6 victory.
So, again, there are plenty of reasons for the Niners (and their fans) to root against the Seahawks. That said, however, there is a reason to root for Seattle, and a historic one at that, as San Francisco is currently locked in a tie with New England for the most postseason victories in NFL history.
49ers are currently tied with Patriots for the most postseason wins in NFL history
Heading into this postseason, the Niners already held the record for the most playoff victories in NFL history, with 39, and their aforementioned Wild Card win over the Eagles obviously took them up to 40.
The Patriots, meanwhile, entered these playoffs with 37 postseason victories to their credit, 30 of which came during the Bill Belichick-Tom Brady era, a list that obviously includes all six of the franchise's Super Bowl wins.
New England picked win No. 38 in the Wild Card round with a 16-3 victory over the Los Angeles Chargers, No. 39 with a 28-16 victory over the Houston Texans in the divisional round, and tied the Niners at 40 with a 10-7 win over the Denver Broncos in the AFC Championship game.
And now, of course, the Pats can knock the 49ers down into solo second with No. 41 in San Francisco's own home stadium. With a victory, New England would also break out of a tie with the Pittsburgh Steelers for the most Super Bowl victories and move two ahead of the Niners, who are currently tied for third with five alongside the Dallas Cowboys.
So, while it might sting a bit, a Seahawks win on Super Bowl Sunday might not be the worst thing in the world.