One could always exchange one for another; maybe we beat GB but get caught looking ahead @ Seattle. Or AZ upsets Minnesota but looses the finale to GB. Either way, end the losing streak this weekend, beat AZ when they come to town and win the “no choice but win” games: Jags, Rams and Lions. Everything else will then fall as it should.

While rooting for Chicago to defeat AZ on Sunday, I hope both teams put a physical toll on each other and go to O.T. Bears come here on a short week so let’s hope they’re beat up but coming off a win.

One thing to watch for: when Seattle beats Detroit this weekend and AZ hopefully loses at Chicago, we may hear Seahawk fans beating their chest about being one game back of SF and AZ. Just point out that their three game road trip will leave them solidly in third place.

We almost beat the Eagles under Nolan, and I think the niners play up to cometition, aside from the Falcons.

I like your picks though

SF Result SF Opp Week Ari Opp Ari Result
W vs Tenn Week 9 @ Chi L
W vs Chi Week 10 vs Sea W
L @ GB Week 11 @ StL W
W vs Jax Week 12 @ Tenn W
W @ Sea Week 13 vs Minn L
L vs Ari Week 14 @ SF W
W @Phi Week 15 @ Det W
W vs Det Week 16 vs StL W
W @ StL Week 17 vs GB L

Loss to Cardinals and still we make the playoffs!

Right now these two teams are playing neck and neck, yet you have Ari losing to Chicago and us beating Chi within four days of each other. That doesn’t make sense.

What I’m encouraged by is how erratic Arizona can be. If they get whooped by the Panthers, they have a problem.

but the Seahawks look pretty done to me. 7-9 at best, though I guess with the inconsistencies of this division, that could be enough to be ‘competitive’.

… for you to pencil us in for a win against Chicago, and them in for a loss. But I don’t want to quibble with your predictions too much because we all know predictions are basically guesses, and a lot can happen between now and then.

But …

The interesting thing is that, if we beat the Cardinals for a sweep, we could win the division and 9-7 (take your predictions, they also lose to GB; we lose to Chi as well). But if we lose to them, then 11-6 may not be enough.

In division tiebreakers are:
1) Head to head (we’d be tied)
2) Division record (we’d be tied)
3) Common opponents (tied because of different Hou results if they lose to Chicago).
4) Strength of schedule (very hard to predict, but we could have the edge here if Phi ends up better than NYG and Atl ends up better than Car).

But to get to 11-5 after losing to them we’d have to win every other game on our schedule.

Obviously unexpected things can happen. Carolina might be turning it on, which means the strength of schedule component is up in the air. But if we lose that game against the Cards, life gets really hard unless they do us some favors by losing some games they should win.

There O-Line is worse than ours, and their defense isn’t impressive at all. I think the Niners win that game, even if it is in “sacred” Lambeau Field. Aside from taking it one game at a time, our toughest match-ups will be @ Seattle (paybacks are a [site decorum]), @ Philadelphia, and home vs. the Cardinals.

The toughest match-up of all? This week versus the Titans. Tennessee handed Jacksonville their butts and probably have a lot of confidence heading into San Francisco. The Niners have to win this game to build some confidence of their own, because another gut-wrenching loss is going to deflate this team entirely. Here’s my take on the remainder of the sked:

Vs. TEN W20-10
Vs. CHI W24-21
@ GB W30-24
Vs. JAX W17-3
@ SEA W17-13
Vs. ARI L21-20
@ PHI L35-17
Vs. DET W20-0
@ STL W17-14

That puts us at 10-6, but the loss to Arizona means we’ll need them to fudge else where a few times to get us as the West Champs. I’m not sure if 10-6 will be good enough for a WC berth or not, but I’ll be fine with 10-6.

the Panthers. Obviously, I think most of us are thrilled that they beat the Cardinals to help us out this week despite the fact that we have their first round pick and so, obviously, we want them to lose as much as possible. And it actually made me a little worried— what if the Cardinals didn’t lay an egg, but the Panthers actually turned a corner?

So I took a look at Carolina’s remaining schedule, and folks, it’s not good. For them, I mean. For Niners fans, it’s a thing of beauty. Take a look at this for Carolina the rest of the way:

@New Orleans
Atlanta
Miami
@New York Jets
Tampa Bay
@New England
Minnesota
@New York Giants
New Orleans

Looking at that schedule, obviously the Tampa game stands out as fairly reasonable. But I don’t think it’s entirely out of the realm of possibility that the Panthers could lose EVERY other game on that list. That would make them 4-12 for the year and would, obviously, give us a damn good pick, definitely top-10 and quite possibly top-5.

Now, that said, I’m sure they’ll surprise us and win a game or two that, on paper, doesn’t look too good for them. For instance, the last game of the year against the Saints could be much easier than it looks because New Orleans might have everything locked up by then and rest it’s starters. Atlanta, Miami, and the Jets all seem like teams that could have a bad week and lay an egg like the Cardinals did last weekend.

But it’s unlikely that ALL those things would happen. Frankly, I don’t see a way Carolina can finish better than 6-10… which would be a very good thing indeed.

whole-heartedly with the basic conclusion of your predictions. just think they’ll end up tied at 9-7 rather than 10-6. have to account for some BS loss for both teams. after all, ARI and SF haven’t exactly been the best “down the stretch” teams the past several seasons.

I was watching TV and they were advertising a boxing match and it said “a fight to the finish!” I thought, that’s a good place to stop.

We have to watch V Young on those 3rd and long plays. He has the ability to scramble for the 1st down. I was hoping they did not change till after we played them. Going to be a great game.

Makes it that more interesting here after everyone guesses wrong.