SANTA CLARA – It’s “Super Wild Card Weekend,” which suggests something super wild could ruin the 49ers’ entrance to the NFL playoffs Saturday.

Then again, they’re 3-0 all-time hosting a wild-card game, so that history is on their side when the No. 7-seeded Seattle Seahawks (9-8) visit Levi’s Stadium, where the No. 2-seeded 49ers (13-4) are 12-1 since November 2021.

Those past four wins came with Brock Purdy piloting a high-scoring offense. Three more wins and he’ll be the first rookie quarterback to reach a Super Bowl.

“I’m not trying to think about this storybook ending or anything like that,” Purdy said this week.

Purdy and the 49ers prevailed 21-13 in Seattle last month to sweep the season series and lock up the NFC West title with three regular-season games to spare.

“The more times you play, the more chances they have to beat you,” defensive end Nick Bosa said, before adding: “We put on some pretty good performances against them, so we have a good idea how to beat them.”

The Seahawks lost six games by a touchdown or less this season, so Shanahan has reason to predict a tight finish at Levi’s Stadium. The Seahawks have lost only twice in eight visits, the last being a 27-7 defeat in the 49ers’ home opener Sept. 18.

The 49ers haven’t lost since a 44-23 wake-up call to the Kansas City Chiefs on Oct. 23. Then came this 10-game win streak to the playoffs. This will be only the third playoff game in Levi’s Stadium’s nine-year history, the others coming in their 2019 team’s wins over Minnesota and Green Bay.

“I’m just happy we’re playing at home, to be honest” defensive back Jimmie Ward said. “We don’t have to travel and put that on our bodies, and we get to play in front of our fans.”

Here are five ways the five-time Super Bowl champs can win the opening of four legacy-defining rounds:

5. WEATHER THE STORM

The 49ers’ postseason is forecast to open in the rain, just as their regular season did in a Sept. 11 quagmire at Chicago. That initial experience did not go well, as a 10-0 lead dissolved amid penalties and turnovers for a 19-10 loss against the Bears, who finished a NFL-worst 3-14.

A couple of the 49ers’ home games included portions of showers, and they have since practiced in the rain more time than any season in recent memory, including Wednesday’s biggest session of the week.

Shanahan acknowledged that “bad weather slows the game down and equalizes stuff,” which seemingly could help the underdog Seahawks.

Then again, the 49ers led the NFL with a plus-13 turnover ratio, and their ball security has been outstanding, even in slick spots. Seattle, of course, might be more familiar with rainy elements than any team.

How might it impact defensive players? Well, one making his playoff debut will be cornerback Deommodore Lenoir, who countered: “I played at Oregon, so it was raining 90 percent of the time or it was cold. It’s going to feel the same for me.”

4. CHUCK AND COVER

The Seahawks will be on the lookout for Lenoir, assuming he starts his 13th straight game since Emmanuel Moseley’s season-ending knee injury.

“I’m pretty sure he’s going to get a lot of targets. They’ve been targeting him a lot lately,” fellow cornerback Charvarius Ward said. “I just tell him: step up to the opportunity, be ready, and make the play when it comes to you.”

Lenoir made such a play last meeting, when he returned an apparent interception for a touchdown, only to have it nullified by a roughing-the-passer penalty on Nick Bosa. Lenoir was inactive as a rookie in last season’s playoffs, but his encounters with the Seahawks have him prepared for what D.K. Metcalf and Tyler Lockett might bring, physically and verbally.

“If I feel you’re talking trash, that means you’re telling me you want me to make a play, so I will,” Lenoir said.

Neither Metcalf nor Lockett have scored against the 49ers this season, combining for 27 receptions and 265 yards. Geno Smith has completed 31-of-41 passes in third-and-10 or greater, so neither rain nor the 49ers’ pass rush might sway him from taking deep shots. Then again, Bosa did lead the NFL in sacks with 18 ½, including three against Smith, who got hit nine times overall by the 49ers last game.

3. STOP THEIR ROOKIE

The Seahawks’ strong rookie class is headlined by their leading rusher, Kenneth Walker III. He’s  been a non-factor, however, against the 49ers, partly because of his health. He’s earned their respect, nonetheless.

“His elusiveness is crazy,” defensive tackle Javon Kinlaw said. “His strong suit is making cuts an making people miss in the open field.”

Since gaining just 47 yards on 12 carries in Seattle’s home loss to the 49ers on Dec. 15, Walker has reeled off three consecutive 100-yard games (against the Chiefs, the Jets and the Rams).

The 49ers, meanwhile, finished the regular season allowing the second-fewest rushing yards (77.7 per game, just off the Titans’ pace of 76.9.)

What likely will help the 49ers reinforce their defensive interior with Arik Armstead are Kinlaw and Kevin Givens, who missed last month’s game with knee issues. Kinlaw, the 49ers’ top draft pick in 2020, also did not play in last season’s playoffs, so, “I’ve been longing to be a part of this.”

2. UNLEASH RUSHING TRIO

Neither Deebo Samuel nor Elijah Mitchell were in the 49ers’ lineup for that 21-13 win last month in Seattle. Christian McCaffrey was, and he ran for 108 yards and a touchdown, plus he had 30 yards on six catches.

That McCaffrey-Mitchell-Samuel trifecta is healthy and raring to go, which should be especially comforting in Purdy’s playoff debut.

The Seahawks lost Jordyn Brooks, the NFL’s fourth-leading tackler, to a season-ending knee injury two weeks ago, but Pete Carroll’s defensive scheme still is reason for concern.

“You have to be on point with how you block them,” 49ers run-game coordinator Chris Foerster said. “It’s not just enough to say, OK, we got a guy for him.’ It’s not just having a guy for him. It’s how you’re going to get him blocked, because they have some challenging guys with Al Woods back. He wasn’t there the first game.”

McCaffrey hasn’t been in the playoffs since a wild-card loss at New Orleans in his 2017 rookie season with the Carolina Panthers. “I know what it means to be here and what’s at stake and the urgency that’s needed to win these kinds of games,” McCaffrey said. “I was thankful we got to the playoffs that (2017) year. As a rookie, and obviously everything (from then) is a little foggy, but when we lost, it was extremely disappointing. I haven’t been back since, so it’s good to be here.”

1. WIN FIRST PLAYOFF START

NFL pundits might suggest betting on a 10th-year quarterback who led the league in completion percentage (69.8) and posted the fifth-best passer rating (100.9). Smith, 32, indeed has plenty more experience than Purdy, 23.

Only one of them will win their first-career playoff start. The 49ers have shown the past month reason to be confident in Purdy, who’s delivered six wins since replacing Jimmy Garoppolo, and he’s done so by combating all-out blitzes as well as pocket pressure that’s showcased creativity and mobility.

“He’s very genuine. He’s himself and that’s what matters,” McCaffrey said. “He’s doesn’t do anything that’s fake.” That includes working diligently, but also being highly critical of his own mistakes, to which McCaffrey added: “I have the utmost respect for him.”

So, too, does George Kittle, who’s caught two touchdown passes from Purdy in three of the past four games, including a pair in Seattle. “He’s getting better, but he’s still the same Brock,” Kittle said. “He goes out there, knows what he’s doing, he’s confident,  he’s delivering, getting us in the right checks. He’s having fun out there, which you can really see.”

No one’s seen a rookie quarterback reach a Super Bowl, much less win one. Purdy expects to see new things in the playoffs, at least in terms of defensive schemes, starting with Carroll’s. “I feel like I see something new almost every week, so obviously there’s six games of film out there on me,” Purdy said. “There’s still things that I’m sure coordinators are going to try to dial up and try to get me to do something different.”

What he’ll try duplicating is the winning formula of past 49ers’ quarterbacks. That includes down-to-the-wire wins in the wild-card round, where Steve Young found Terrell Owens at the goal line (“The Catch II”) in a January 1999 win over Green Bay at Candlestick Park, which is where, four years later, Jeff Garcia threw a last-minute touchdown pass in a 24-point comeback win over the Giants.

Time to write the next chapter in 49ers’ playoff history.

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