The San Francisco 49ers have a one-game lead in the NFC West going into a season-defining stretch, which starts with a primetime clash with the Seattle Seahawks on Thursday.

Seattle's defeat to the Los Angeles Rams gave the 49ers some breathing room atop the division after San Francisco defeated the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 27-14.

Still, the tight nature of the division race between the 49ers (7-3) and Seahawks (6-4) would appear to point to many anticipating a close contest, especially at a stadium in Seattle that until recent years had been a house of horrors for San Francisco.

However, the expectation is the Niners will do what they did three times to the Seahawks last year across the regular season and postseason and win comfortably.

The 49ers opened as 6.5-point favorites to prevail in Seattle and, with Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith's status in doubt because of an elbow injury he suffered in the loss to the Rams, that line has already increased to seven points. 

San Francisco has won two of its last four games on the road in Seattle having previously not won away from home against the Seahawks since the 2011 season.

The Niners' most recent triumph saw Brock Purdy lead the Niners to a 21-13 victory on a Thursday night in his first road start despite heading into the game with a broken rib.

This time it is his counterpart Smith who is banged up, and the smart money says the result should once again go in Purdy's favor.

Grading the 49ers to watch: Fred Warner leads by example in win over Buccaneers

The heartbeat of the team excelled.