Nick Wagoner, ESPN Staff Writer
SANTA CLARA, Calif. — For the third consecutive season and the fourth time in the past five years, the San Francisco 49ers will be playing in the postseason.
By virtue of San Francisco’s 28-16 win against the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday and the Green Bay Packers‘ 24-22 loss to the New York Giants on Monday night, the Niners are the first team in the league to punch their ticket to the playoffs.
The 49ers also benefited from the Philadelphia Eagles‘ loss to the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday night. The 10-3 49ers now sit in the top spot in the NFC playoff picture because they hold tiebreakers over the Eagles and Cowboys and beat both teams. San Francisco can wrap up the No. 1 seed and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs if it can win its final four games.
During his weekly conference call Monday, Niners coach Kyle Shanahan said he’s not concerning himself much with where his team stands in mid-December.
“I’ll have a reaction when it is the number one spot, if it is, because that’s when the season ends,” Shanahan said. “Right now, it doesn’t mean much. It just means where you’re at now. I know we won’t be that if we don’t handle business this week. So, that’s really all we’re worried about this week and then we’ll move to who we play after that.”
The next order of business for the Niners is to win the NFC West division, a benchmark that could come as soon as Sunday when they visit the Arizona Cardinals. A victory there or a Los Angeles Rams loss to the Washington Commanders would give the 49ers the division ccown and guarantee them no worse than the No. 3 seed in the NFC playoffs.
After the trip to Arizona, the 49ers finish with games at home against the Baltimore Ravens on Christmas night and a trip to Washington before closing at Levi’s Stadium against the Rams. ESPN’s Football Power Index gives the Niners a conference-best 58.7% chance to clinch the No. 1 seed.
They 49ers have been to three of the past four NFC championship games, but the only one they won came after the 2019 regular season. That was also the last time they held the conference’s top seed and home-field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs.
Which is, at least in part, why the Niners haven’t shied away from the importance of getting the top spot sewn up.
“For us, if we handle business and take it one week at a time, obviously who doesn’t want to play as the first seed with home-field advantage,” quarterback Brock Purdy asked. “I think everybody in the league knows that. We know that here and like I said, we’re taking it one day at a time and everything will fall into place that needs to.”
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