With the Green Bay Packers’ loss to the New York Giants on Monday night, the San Francisco 49ers became the first team this season to clinch a spot in the 2023 NFL playoffs. At 10-3, the 49ers are currently the top seed in the NFC playoffs and will head to the postseason for the third straight season and fourth time in the past five years.
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The 49ers entered the weekend needing a win and a loss by either the Packers or Minnesota Vikings — or for both teams to tie — to clinch a playoff spot. San Francisco would clinch a second straight NFC West title on Sunday with a win over the Arizona Cardinals. The 49ers own a four-game lead in the NFC West over the Los Angeles Rams and Seattle Seahawks, who both sit at 6-7.
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Next goal? Secure the top seed
Sure, clinching a playoff berth on Dec. 11 is nice, but the 49ers’ goal in the coming weeks is a little more ambitious: hold onto the No. 1 seed in the NFC and watch the first round of the playoffs from their sofas. The team’s last two seasons have ended in an opponent’s building. They lost the 2021 NFC Championship Game by three points to the Rams. Last season ended in Philadelphia when they ran out of healthy quarterbacks in a championship game loss to the Eagles.
The 49ers want the road to the Super Bowl to go through Levi’s Stadium, and they also could use the rest and recovery a first-round bye would provide. The 49ers already have played Eastern time zone games in Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Jacksonville and Philadelphia, and they’ll have one more in Washington on New Year’s Eve. They want to avoid another trip east. The last time the 49ers had the top seed was 2019, the year they went to the Super Bowl. — Matt Barrows, 49ers senior writer
Playoff success under Shanahan
The 49ers have developed a penchant for peaking at the right time under coach Kyle Shanahan. In fact, they’ve won two games in each of their three playoff appearances under him. In 2019, the team was dominant in the NFC bracket, steamrolling the Vikings and the Packers. In 2021, the 49ers weren’t as strong of a team, but they won by the skin of their teeth in road battles against the Dallas Cowboys and Packers. In 2022, the 49ers prevailed in home games against the Seahawks and the Cowboys.
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But it takes at least three (and without a first-round bye, four) wins — not just two — to hold the Lombardi Trophy at the end of the road. And winning the Super Bowl would be the only satisfactory finish for the 49ers this season. They’ll spend their final four games looking to lock up the NFC’s No. 1 seed so that their path to the ultimate goal is as manageable as possible this season. — David Lombardi, 49ers staff writer
Required reading
(Photo: Thearon W. Henderson / Getty Images)
“The Football 100,” the definitive ranking of the NFL’s best 100 players of all time, is on sale now. Order it here.
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