Pete Carroll on Seahawks making the playoffs: “Unfortunately, we’re playing the Niners”

Pete Carroll and the Seattle Seahawks were overjoyed when they saw the Detroit Lions beat the Green Bay Packers on Sunday night. It meant a playoff berth for the team from the Pacific Northwest.

“We love the Lions,” Carroll told reporters on Tuesday. “Coach [Dan] Campbell did a great job with his crew, and they played a fantastic football game to get the win, to give us a chance, so we’re going to try to do something with it.”

The coach probably wasn’t happy about his postseason opponent, though.

The Seahawks will travel to Levi’s Stadium to face the San Francisco 49ers for the third time this season after losing the previous two meetings. It felt like the Niners were in control in both contests, and they are 9.5-point favorites heading into Saturday’s Wild Card Round matchup.

“Unfortunately, we’re playing the Niners,” Carroll added. “And they’re loaded and healthy and on a roll, and about as hot as you can possibly get, and doing it in a really commanding fashion too, with a young quarterback who’s doing so well. Just kind of bucked the odds that everybody would think you could do that. Everybody in the media, anyway.

“So we’ll see how we get our guys back for this weekend. It’s coming up quick with a Saturday ball game.”