NFL Week 6 schedule: 49ers rooting guide for 2018 NFL Draft positioning on Sunday

The San Francisco 49ers should not be tanking for a better draft pick and I personally am not a fan of rooting for such things. But the team is winless through five games, and they’re heavily in the discussion for what could be the top pick in the 2018 NFL Draft at this point.

And that could be huge for a young team, provided a winless season doesn’t result in the 49ers once again screwing everything up with the coaching staff to the detriment of the team.

As such, each week we take a quick look at the other relevant games that will be taking place on Sunday, and where your rooting interest should lie. If the 49ers were in the middle of a playoff race, we’d be worrying about seeding and things like that.

But it’s Week 6, and the 49ers are bad. So we’re talking about draft positioning.

Currently, there are three winless teams in the NFL — the Cleveland Browns, New York Giants and 49ers. There are a further two teams that are 1-4 — the Los Angeles Chargers and Chicago Bears — and a long list of teams with 2-3 records.

It would be nice if the 49ers could pick up a win or two this year, but it would be even better if they do that and the teams with similar records also win a couple games. The 49ers will play the Giants this season, but won’t play Cleveland.

Let’s take a look at the games you should care about and why.

Browns at Texans (10 a.m., FOX): Cleveland — The Browns currently own the top pick in the draft thanks to a worse strength of schedule than the 49ers. The Texans aren’t great though, and are one of the few 2-3 teams, so it’s not the end of the world if Cleveland takes another loss.

Bears at Ravens (10 a.m., FOX): Chicago — The Bears are 1-4 and have a significant strength of schedule, at least for now. The Ravens are 3-2 and can afford a loss, while the Bears may be facing a tipping point. Some confidence from Mitchell Trubisky could take them out of the conversation for the top pick.

Buccaneers at Cardinals (1:05 p.m., FOX): Arizona — While it’s hard to root for the NFC West-rival Cardinals, they are 2-3 with a very low strength of schedule, and thus are one of the most desirable 2-3 teams to get away from when it comes to the top pick. The Buccaneers are 2-2, having already had their bye week.

Chargers at Raiders (1:25 p.m., CBS): Los Angeles — The Raiders are 2-3 and can’t afford a loss here as they were hoping to be competitive this year. We’re not concerned with that. We’re simply concerned with the Chargers’ 1-4 mark and their high strength of schedule. A win here by the Chargers would be great for the 49ers. They’re currently lined up fourth, behind the 49ers at third.

Giants at Broncos (5:30 p.m., NBC): New York — And it’s the Giants who are currently slotted in at No. 2 overall with the same strength of schedule as the Browns and an 0-5 record. They’re playing the Denver Broncos, a team that ultimately can afford to take this kind of loss.