CLEVELAND — With the newest attainable bye week on the NFL schedule, the San Francisco 49ers have achieved their finest to not look too far forward, lest they drop a recreation they consider they in any other case ought to have received.
However, after rolling the Cleveland Browns 26-8 on Sunday afternoon, the Niners have lastly made it to some much-needed day off. And regardless of shedding celebrity gamers corresponding to linebacker Fred Warner (proper ankle), defensive finish Nick Bosa (proper ACL), tight finish George Kittle (hamstring) and quarterback Brock Purdy (proper huge toe), amongst others, for the remainder of the season or lengthy chunks of it, the Niners have grow to be unlikely contenders within the NFC playoff image.
“Trying from the surface in, if folks would’ve stated, ‘Hey, you guys are going to be 9-4 going into the bye and you are not going to have Fred Warner and Nick Bosa and Kittle goes to overlook the primary 5 weeks and Brock’s going to overlook six, seven video games, I feel lots of people would have laughed,” Kittle stated. “Kudos to our teaching employees, coach [Kyle] Shanahan and [general manager John] Lynch for bringing in the proper guys to fill in these spots and creating gamers to benefit from these conditions.”
Going into the Sunday evening recreation, the 49ers have a recreation and a half lead on the Detroit Lions for the seventh and last spot within the NFC playoffs. Sunday’s win, paired with the Los Angeles Rams’ loss to the Carolina Panthers, additionally pulled the Niners again inside a recreation of the Rams within the NFC West division.
What’s extra, the 49ers have achieved most of their harm towards opponents within the division (a 4-1 mark) and the convention (8-2), giving them a leg up in most of the main tiebreakers down the stretch.
Whereas Sunday’s win got here towards an AFC opponent, the 49ers seen it as important to their playoff hopes as a result of it capped a manageable three-game, pre-bye stretch towards the likes of the Arizona Cardinals, Panthers and Browns, groups with a mixed 13 wins on the season.
“Each recreation from that Arizona recreation was a must-win,” proper guard Dominick Puni stated. “You may’t actually take any without any consideration. You may’t give some other group something, and that is been our mindset these previous three weeks. We actually confirmed up.”
By successful these video games, the 49ers have positioned themselves to host the one-win Tennessee Titans within the first recreation after the bye in what needs to be a golden alternative to get to a tenth win earlier than a tougher ending stretch at Indianapolis and residential towards Chicago and Seattle. ESPN’s Soccer Energy Index offers the Niners an 88.8% probability to make the postseason heading into Sunday evening.
This week, Shanahan stated the group will are available for a few days, together with wrapping up Sunday’s win on Monday afternoon after which do some bit of labor on Tuesday earlier than parting methods for the week.
That downtime ought to permit some bumps and bruises to heal, together with for fullback Kyle Juszczyk, who departed Sunday’s recreation with a rib harm and didn’t return. Shanahan stated Juszczyk can have additional testing on the ribs on Monday, although Juszczyk informed ESPN he thought the bye week would permit him to be able to play Tennessee on Dec. 14.
San Francisco also needs to get again kicker Eddy Pineiro (proper hamstring), linebacker Tatum Bethune (excessive proper ankle sprain) and defensive finish Sam Okuayinonu (ankle) towards the Titans or quickly after.
The hope is slightly down time, even on the newest attainable time allowed by the NFL schedule, can have the Niners more healthy and able to make a run down the stretch.
“I really like the place we’re at proper now,” Shanahan stated. “I consider we might be within the playoffs at the moment if it began, and we have 4 extra video games left to ensure we proceed that. It has been a great distance for a bye week… It is lastly right here. Mentally and bodily, it will likely be superior to relaxation. We’ll be capable of come again from that with 4 video games to play for an opportunity to get within the playoffs. It is all you may ask for.”