49ers Postseason Chances Change Heading into Week…

The San Francisco 49ers may not have moved in their NFC seeding following their disappointing Week 16 loss to the Tennessee Titans, but they did lose their once-complete control of their postseason hopes.

San Francisco’s record dropped to 8-7 following their Thursday night loss, but the team remains ahead of the Philadelphia Eagles (8-7) and Minnesota Vikings (7-8), who the 49ers own tie breakers against.

With Philadelphia’s win over the New York Giants on Sunday, the Eagles bumped Minnesota out of the seventh and final spot in the NFC seeding.

According to FiveThirtyEight, the 49ers chances to make the postseason dropped from 81 percent to 69. The 49ers are now in a position that they cannot afford to drop one of their remaining two games with multiple teams nipping at their heels – teams who also own a better overall conference record than San Francisco.

The 7-7 New Orleans Saints are set to face a high-flying Miami Dolphins team on Monday night, where a Saints loss will give the 49ers some room heading into the final two games of the season. The Saints will feature rookie quarterback Ian Book, who is expected to make his first-career start with both Taysom Hill and Trevor Siemian on the COVID list and Jameis Winston expected to miss the rest of the year with a knee injury.

If both the Saints and Eagles win out, they could knock San Francisco out of the playoff picture. A three-way tie would be decided by conference winning percentage, which would go to the Saints.

As for the rest of the conference, the Green Bay Packers still sit atop of the NFC following a win over the Cleveland Browns on Saturday. If they win their final two games, Green Bay will earn a first-round Bye heading into Wild Card weekend.

San Francisco’s Week 16 loss allowed the Dallas Cowboys to clinch a playoff spot, and at 11-4, own the second seed in the conference.

With a win over the Vikings, the Los Angeles Rams currently sit atop of the NFC West division and are currently occupying the third seed in the conference. Meanwhile, the Arizona Cardinals suffered their third-straight loss and dropped from the once-first seed to fourth. Both the Rams and Cardinals have clinched a playoff berth.

San Francisco has one last regular season matchup against Los Angeles in Week 18 – another crucial contest for the 49ers to remain relevant in the playoff picture. But, if the regular season were to end today, the 49ers would still be traveling to SoFi Stadium to face the Rams in the Wild Card round.

Here’s a current look at the NFC standings ahead of Monday night’s matchup between the Saints and Dolphins: