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Well, this is not how the San Francisco 49ers‘ season was supposed to go. Easily the favorite in the NFC West, and a favorite to win the NFC entering the season, the 49ers find themselves at 5-5 after a heartbreaking loss Sunday against the Seattle Seahawks.
Trailing by four points in the final minutes, Geno Smith led the Seahawks on a game-winning drive and ran in the winning score with 12 seconds on the clock.
It’s a tough loss for the 49ers, who entered the game as six-point home favorites but couldn’t win the game outright.
They nearly choked away a win last week against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but managed to squeak out a win with a last-second field goal.
Before that, they beat the Dallas Cowboys by six points. That was a Cowboys team coming off a 47-9 loss against Detroit.
In fact, San Francisco hasn’t beaten a team with a winning record all season. Their best win came at Seattle four games ago, but the Seahawks are 5-5.
San Francisco’s other two wins came against the New York Jets and New England Patriots.
The 49ers aren’t even leading the NFC West. That distinction goes to the 6-4 Arizona Cardinals, who beat San Francisco earlier this season and had a bye in Week 11. Plus, the Los Angeles Rams are also tied with the 49ers and Seahawks at 5-5.
Life doesn’t get much easier for the 49ers, either. They have to go on the road and play at Green Bay next week before another road contest at Buffalo.
Plus, they still have to face the Cardinals again, and they have a game against the NFC-leading Detroit Lions.
In other words, it might be time to start panicking in the Bay Area. The 49ers are 10th in the NFC, meaning they don’t currently occupy a playoff spot.
Of their seven remaining games, only two are against teams that are under .500 (Chicago and Miami).
One has to think that San Francisco has to get to at least 10-7 to be in position for a playoff spot. That would mean going at least 5-2 the rest of the way.
Could they do it? Sure.
Is it a lock? Absolutely not.
And how many people thought that after Week 11 we’d be talking about the 49ers possibly missing the playoffs entirely?
Not this writer, I can assure you.