Niners Chances

If the Niners are to make the playoffs, they simply cannot slip up. I don't think they have it in them. Five more games, they need to win 4 of them at least, and must beat the Cardinals. Luckily, the remaining schedule is fairly easy: Seahawks, Cardinals, Eagles, Lions, Rams. They should win easily against the Lions and Rams. They should beat the Seahawks, but the game makes me nervous. I think they CAN beat the Cardinals and Eagles, but likely will not.

They would need to play above themselves to beat the Cardinals again and I suppose it is possible. I'm worried about this weekend. The Cardinals are playing the Vikings. I like that game, because I'll be happy with either team losing. If the Niners win against Seattle, the Cardinals on Monday Night becomes a must-win game. For some reason, I actually have confidence in this 49er team to be able to step-it-up in a big game. For the first time in years, they actually have some talent on both sides of the ball. They are also prone to stupidity and let downs, however, but I suppose it goes with the territory. The best case and entirely plausible possibility is that the Cards lose to the Vikings this week and the Niners beat the Seahawks and the Monday Night game basically decides the division.

If the Niners lose to the Seahawks, the season is over. And even if the Niners could tie up the division in two weeks (and own the tie-breaker), they could blow it by losing to the Eagles (although I think that is a winnable game).