THE FRONT ROW WITH MARK NELKE: September 8, 2013

After a trip to the NFC championship game, followed the next year by their first Super Bowl appearance in 18 years, my San Francisco 49ers are not the flavor of the month this season.

That honor goes to the Seattle Seahawks, this year's sexy pick to reach the Super Bowl.

With good reason. They are young and feisty, and appear to have few flaws. After flying a bit below the radar as the "up and coming" team the past few years, let's see how they handle the higher expectations of this season.

Meanwhile, the 49ers will trundle along, hoping someone from their injury depleted receiving corps emerges as a pass-catching threat, and hoping they fixed a normally stout defense which sprung a few leaks late last season.

OF COURSE, it is only natural for fans to think the warts on their own team are bigger than the ones on the other team.

Colin Kaepernick was an upgrade at quarterback over Alex Smith, who often settled for the checkdown pass, because 1) he could run and 2) he could complete passes downfield.

Smith was a good soldier over the years, but too often he would complete passes on first down, second down and third down - and the 49ers still hadn't gained enough yardage for a first down.

However, running quarterbacks are much like dogs who chase cars - ultimately, there is a splat!, and the results usually aren't pretty. And neither are the 49ers' prospects if they have to play their backup QB.

As for the Seahawks' warts, they have a pedestrian receiving corps, but quarterback Russell Wilson tends to make everybody look good. In an era where running the football is just something to do a few times a game so the receivers can rest, Seattle's Marshawn Lynch is a load to bring down. And, with their 67,000 leather-lunged fans, the Seahawks have the best home-field advantage in the league.

Now if their coaches don't screw things up - like giving the ball to Michael Robinson instead of Lynch on fourth-and-short in Atlanta during the divisional playoff game, or playing a prevent defense to allow the Falcons room to pass the balll into game-winning field-goal range - the Seahawks may very well be Jersey-bound in February.

THE DIVISION may very well come down to the two games between the two teams - next Sunday in Seattle, and Dec. 8 in San Francisco. The winner could wind up with home-field advantage throughout the playoffs - a bigger deal for the Seahawks than the 49ers.

In recent years, the 49ers have become the team Seattle wants to beat more than anyone else. From the 49ers' side, fans of pretty much every team got jacked up when San Francisco came to town, particularly during the Super Bowl run in the 1980s and early '90s.

But for years, the 49ers' biggest rival was the Rams, though that diminished a little when the Rams left Los Angeles. The Rams were pretty much the big brother to the 49ers' little brother in the 1960s and '70s, and is still a thorn in the side of the 49ers these days, even though they are in St. Louis, and have not been as successful as S.F. in recent years. But they are still in the same division.

But these days, there's a new rivalry in town, and Rams-49ers matchups are playing second fiddle to Seahawks-49ers matchups.

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at mnelke@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter at CdAPressSports.