I cannot stress enough the San Francisco 49ers’ mastery of bad timing. The one year they decide to have a player go Al Bundy multiple games and rack up wins is the same year the rest of the NFC decides they want to do it too. Welcome to the playoff push in the 2019 season.
Barring disaster, they should be primed for a playoff push. A respectable finish to get the worst seeding is 10-6, but with the way the rest of the NFL is playing, that might not be enough. 11-5 would be a bit better guarantee, but we can go with 10-6 for now. That would require one more win.
Of course, that’s setting the bar pretty low. Ideally, we could just skip all this with the expectation the 49ers run the gauntlet and not lose another game in the season, rendering these posts pretty useless. In my experience, that never happens. Sorry, but it’s true.
Behind the 49ers are the Green Bay Packers , the New Orleans Saints for the conference and the Seattle Seahawks nipping for divisional dominance. The Seahawks right now neck and neck with the 49ers because of that bizarre Monday Night game we don’t need to speak about. The Seahawks will face the Philadelphia Eagles in Philadelphia with a 10:00 AM start time. That was their reward for beating the 49ers, getting bumped out of Sunday night football and having a morning start time on an east coast game. Usually the 49ers are on the receiving end of these things, but I’ll take it.
The Saints host the Carolina Panthers. That game should be pretty much shut and sealed, but it’s divisional and those are bizarre. If there’s an upset this week, I’d put my money on that.
Below are the games you should care about:
Seahawks (8-2) at Eagles (5-5) — Eagles. I don’t need to explain this one. The Seahawks need to start losing and they needed to do it yesterday. But we know what happens. The Russell Wilson special followed by some ridiculous controversy and the Seahawks will walk out of there with a win. I don’t have much faith in this one. But Go Eagles...please Eagles.
Panthers (5-5) at Saints (8-2): Panthers — Like before, any losses to the Saints helps. The 49ers will face the Saints and head to head will be the main tiebreaker, if there is a two-way tie. If there is a three-way tie for whatever the reason, it goes to divisional records. So that would make a Falcons win all the more important in case the 49ers sit with the Saints and Packers in a three-way record tie.
Ravens (8-2) at Rams (6-4) Ravens — Last thing we need is another divisional opponent getting in the middle of this NFC West chaos. Ravens, stomp them.
Here are tiebreaking procedures in NFL playoff seeding:
Two Clubs
1.. Head-to-head, if applicable.
2. Best won-lost-tied percentage in games played within the conference.
3. Best won-lost-tied percentage in common games, minimum of four.
4. Strength of victory.
5. Strength of schedule.
6. Best combined ranking among conference teams in points scored and points allowed.
7. Best combined ranking among all teams in points scored and points allowed.
8. Best net points in conference games.
9. Best net points in all games.
10. Best net touchdowns in all games.
11. Coin toss.
Three or More Clubs
(Note: If two clubs remain tied after third or other clubs are eliminated, tie breaker reverts to step 1 of applicable two-club format.)
1. Apply division tie breaker to eliminate all but the highest ranked club in each division prior to proceeding to step 2. The original seeding within a division upon application of the division tie breaker remains the same for all subsequent applications of the procedure that are necessary to identify the two Wild-Card participants.
2. Head-to-head sweep. (Applicable only if one club has defeated each of the others or if one club has lost to each of the others.)
3.Best won-lost-tied percentage in games played within the conference.
4. Best won-lost-tied percentage in common games, minimum of four.
5. Strength of victory.
6. Strength of schedule.
7. Best combined ranking among conference teams in points scored and points allowed.
8. Best combined ranking among all teams in points scored and points allowed.
9. Best net points in conference games.
10. Best net points in all games.
11. Best net touchdowns in all games.
12. Coin toss
NOTE: Tie games count as one-half win and one-half loss for both clubs.