National Football League

49ers HC Kyle Shanahan: We don't call our fans the '12th man'

Published Jan. 25, 2024 9:11 p.m. ET

The San Francisco 49ers have home-field advantage against the Detroit Lions in Sunday's NFC Championship Game (6:30 p.m. ET on FOX and the FOX Sports app), but head coach Kyle Shanahan doesn't want to hear their fans be compared to a particular NFC West rival.

"We don't call ‘em the 12th man here," Shanahan said Thursday when asked about the impact of San Francisco's home crowd being the 12th man, leading to laughter. "But our crowd's very important. Our crowd, I think, is the best in football. They travel extremely well; they don't have to travel this week. I hear the Lions fans travel pretty well. We love having home-field advantage. Our defense more than anything, our players coming out of the tunnel want to win it here; it's a huge deal.

"It affects everybody, and I think always in sports — everyone likes playing at home — but in football, when it's loud, that truly is an advantage. That truly messes up what one side of the ball can do on the other team, and that's why it's very important that we're loud."

The 12th man is, of course, a reference to the Seattle Seahawks, whose fan base is famously known as being the "12th man" given the cranked up crowd volume for home games at Lumen Field.

Seattle had San Francisco's number for the better part of the last decade, stretching into the beginning of Shanahan's tenure (2017), winning 10 consecutive games and 15 of 17 matchups. That said, the 49ers have turned the tide of late, winning each of their last five games against the Seahawks, with all but one of them being two-plus-score affairs.

San Francisco's NFC divisional-round victory over the Green Bay Packers at Levi's Stadium last week marked its sixth consecutive playoff victory at home. The 49ers haven't lost a home playoff game since the 2011 NFC Championship Game against the New York Giants.

San Francisco is a combined 64-51 in the regular season and 10-7 in the postseason under Shanahan.

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