The San Francisco 49ers lost a hard-fought battle against the Seattle Seahawks during Week 2. The game ended up being the first of five straight decided by three-or-fewer points for San Francisco. On Sunday, the 49ers, who are coming off of a bye week, will host a rematch against the Seahawks at Levi's Stadium.
Of course, for Seattle, the focus is on a Monday night matchup against the Atlanta Falcons. The Seahawks are currently holding on to the sixth-seed Wildcard spot, but that could change with a loss. They are already without some key defensive players that were available with the 49ers and Seahawks last played.
Defensive end Cliff Avril was placed on injured reserve in October after suffering a neck injury against the Indianapolis Colts. Cornerback Richard Sherman, who has already had surgery to repair a ruptured Achilles tendon sustained on November 9, is also done for the season.
Now there are rumors that strong safety Kam Chancellor may be out for the year. Chancellor will not play against Atlanta and is unlikely to play again this season, according to NFL Network's Mike Garafolo.
On Saturday, Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll seemed perplexed by the reports.
"I don't know where [the reports are] coming from," Carroll said.
Carroll went on to say the team is looking at its options and working closely with Chancellor to evaluate his condition. The safety has been battling a stinger sustained late in the same game which Sherman's injury occurred.
Bradley McDougald is expected to start in place of Chancellor against Atlanta. Jeremy Lane will start in place of Sherman.
Other Seattle players expected to miss Monday night's game include guard Luke Joeckel (knee) and former 49ers linebacker Michael Wilhoite (calf).
Because the injuries are piling up for the Seahawks, the Falcons are one-point favorites over their hosts. In fact, Monday night's matchup will be the first time Seattle is a home underdog in five years, according to the Seattle Times.
Meanwhile, the 49ers are seeking their first back-to-back regular-season wins since 2014. While they have won a season finale and season opener back-to-back since then, they have not won two-straight games during a season since the Jim Harbaugh era.
The 49ers have dealt with injuries of their own this season. They have placed a league-high 24 players on injured reserve since the Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch era kicked off. San Francisco has 18 players on injured reserve, but that number could drop by one before Sunday's game. This week, defensive end Tank Carradine is likely to become the 49ers' second and final player removed from injured reserve. The first was defensive lineman Ronald Blair, who was activated on November 4 and played against the New York Giants.
San Francisco will use practices this week to determine who the starting quarterback will be against Seattle. C.J. Beathard has started the last four games for the 49ers, but Jimmy Garoppolo, who San Francisco acquired on October 30, has been studying Kyle Shanahan's offense hard to get onto the field.
Beathard is coming off of the best game of his young career. Against New York, he completed 19 of his 25 pass attempts for 288 yards, two passing touchdowns, a rushing touchdown, an interception, and a passer rating of 123.4.
"C.J.'s really hot right now, and I think that provides us the opportunity to continue to work with Jimmy, get him up to speed," Lynch said last week. "When we feel comfortable, I'm sure Kyle will make that move. I anticipate that at some point this season, we'll see Jimmy Garoppolo. I don't know when that is."