Why the 49ers still make it into the playoffs despite the significant loss to the Packers

There’s no doubt: the San Francisco 49ers are having a brutal season.

The 49ers entered Week 1 with sky-high expectations, as eight-year head coach Kyle Shanahan had just led his team to the Super Bowl last year, the 49ers were losing games they should have won, losing key players seemingly at every turn, and suddenly sit at 5-6 to win the division?

Disappointing? For Niners Nation fans, you can bet; Shanahan’s team had seemingly separated itself from the rest of the division in the previous two seasons. Losing the Super Bowl was supposed to be a step toward greater things, a much-needed milestone toward an NFC West dynasty with the NFL’s most unlikely starting quarterback, “Mr. Irrelevant” Brock Purdy, who runs the show. But instead, this 49ers season looks a lot closer to 2020, when seemingly nothing went right and John Lynch took a big hit to an FCS quarterback that crashed and burned in catastrophic fashion.

Are the 49ers headed for another Trey Lance-level disaster? Or could they still pull a rabbit out of the hat, return to the playoffs, and perhaps make something out of nothing en route to more years of the Shanahan regime?

Admittedly, the NFC West may be out of reach with the Arizona Cardinals two games ahead of the 49ers and a much easier schedule than their Western rivals, but that’s not the only way for a team to make the playoffs. No, with three teams now receiving wild card spots each year, the 49ers still have a chance to get where they want to be, even if the path won’t be easy. Luckily, Shanahan has enough to give him the benefit of the doubt, as the 49ers won’t truly be out of the running until they’re officially eliminated in the eyes of most NFL fans.

1. Kyle Shanahan knows what’s going on

When the 49ers walked off the field in Week 12, there weren’t too many happy faces on the sidelines.

Backup quarterback Brandon Allen struggled to do much through the air, completing just 17 of his 29 passes for 199 yards, one touchdown and one interception. The defense was even worse, allowing Green Bay to score on six of their 10 drives. And worst of all, the rushing game, Shanahan’s usual bread and butter, was borderline non-factor, managing just 44 rushing yards on 16 carries when Allen desperately needed some help on the ground.

Fortunately, when Shanahan discussed the 49ers’ problems on Wednesday, he acknowledged that his team has brought much of the problems upon themselves and that those problems need to be exacerbated to get back on track.

“There’s not much of a secret behind it. We have to tackle better and we can’t do it three times and three times in a row,” Shanahan told reporters. “The penalties that we can change, a couple pre-snap penalties, a 12-on-the-field penalty, a bad game we had, those are the ones we have to fix.”

On the one hand, telling fans that a team will simply fix its self-inflicted problems is easier said than done, because if the 49ers could handle things better, they probably would have in recent days. Still, there are some things they can fix, like running the ball the same number of times compared to pass attempts, and regardless of who starts at quarterback, that needs to be part of the strategic turnaround even if Shanahan doesn’t run wants three-running back platoon like some other teams.

2. The 49ers have four winnable games left in 2024

For the 49ers to actually make the playoffs, they have to win *spoiler alert* games. At 5-6, they are currently in last place in the NFC West, and with only six games left to play, the margin of error is certainly getting smaller with each passing week as the Ls continue to advance. Factoring in a Week 13 showdown against the Bills in Buffalo, where the West Coast team may have to play in the snow for the first time this year, the 49ers could have a record of 5-7 at the end of the first day of December.

And yet, things are looking up significantly from Week 14 onwards, as there are only two teams left with winning records in the final five games of the season.

In Week 14, the 49ers face the Chicago Bears, who have all but forfeited their Thanksgiving game against the Detroit Lions due to some truly terrible time management issues. From there, the 49ers have the Los Angeles Rams at home and the Miami Dolphins away, both of which have coaches with ties to Shanahan but have fallen well short of expectations in 2024.

Yes, Week 17 still has the Lions on the schedule, which is probably marked with an L in most fans’ eyes, but Week 18 against the NFC West-leading Arizona Cardinals? The 49ers could take a step forward in the division and secure their ticket to the playoffs via a wild card spot if things turn bad for them.

Is 9-8 good enough for a wild card spot in the NFC? Fans will find out soon.

3. The 49ers locker room didn’t stop

And last but not least: Why do the 49ers still have a chance to make the postseason? Well, because, as Shanahan pointed out during his media session on Wednesday, the San Francisco locker room hasn’t given up yet, but rather is united by their collective desire to shock the world and prove their online doubters wrong.

“The atmosphere in our dressing room is exactly what you would imagine. We are upset about where we are on our record, but we are a well-coordinated group and play together. I think if you live in the world online, whether it’s dealing with our job or the kids at school dealing with social issues, you’re not going to be happy if you’re dealing with the world online,” Shanahan reportedly said.

“And I’ve definitely trained long enough that I have no place in this world. I just watch movies online, rap battles and funny things animals do. Good or bad. When you hear good things, something like that will mess you up more than anything else. And then when you hear bad things, it will crush you. That’s not why any of us do this. You have to work with younger people on this. I think it’s harder just because of the world they grew up in. But don’t make someone else’s reality your reality. You have to concentrate on your job and never step away from it.”

If the 49ers had collectively given their all like some other NFL teams – you know the ones – then their season would probably be over; The divisions are likely lost, the wild card race is too tough, and injuries could derail any real comeback attempt. But if the 49ers bounce back, have some luck on the injury front and win four of their last six games, you never know they could get hot at the right moment and do some damage.