The most intense rivalry in football over the last three years is officially over to me.

After watching last week’s boring game, that featured 49ers’ quarterback Colin Kaepernick sticking his tail between his legs at the sight of the Seahawks pass rush, I realized that this match-up will never be as exciting as the seven games played between the teams from 2012-2014.

Both teams having down seasons will always put a damper on the excitement for a rivalry game, but true bad blood always finds its way to the field in the best of rivalries.

When the Ravens and Steelers play, you see that emotion every time. I didn’t see that emotion from either the Seahawks or 49ers last week.

The absence of Jim Harbaugh’s pleated khakis and ugly scowl from the 49ers sideline just didn’t seem right.

The spark that Harbaugh and Seahawks coach Pete Carroll brought to the rivalry helped make it what it was. The rivalry between the coaches dated back to Carroll and Harbaugh’s USC versus Stanford days.

Harbaugh’s departure coincided with a complete rebuild for the 49ers defense and the disappearance of their quarterback’s passing ability.

I saw Kaepernick, at one time maybe the most feared dual-threat quarterback in the NFL, look like an absolute shell of the player he was in 2012 and 2013. The regression started last season, but is growing ever more apparent this season.

Even in the blowout wins the Seahawks had at home during the rivalry’s peak-run, Kaepernick always seemed to be fighting to the end.

But after his offensive line’s blocking resembled a matador stepping aside to let the bull by, the fight that Kaepernick once brought to this rivalry seemed gone.

It seems that Richard Sherman’s tip in the NFC championship could be the play that goes down as the beginning to the end of Kaepernick and the 49ers’ relevance.

To go along with the lack of fight from the 49ers’ field general, there was none of the usual extracurricular activity on the field that fans of the teams had become used to. There wasn’t the usual scuffle after every play or constant trash-talk between the sides.

The Seahawks waited around for the 49ers in the second half, but they never came.

For once, it just seemed like another game.