The San Francisco 49ers continue searching for their first win, but another loss will bring some history. If the 49ers lose to the New York Giants in Week 10, they will drop to 0-10. No real surprise with that, but with the loss it would appear they will be officially eliminated from playoff contention.
Joe Ferreira does a ton of research on tiebreaker rules, and he sees no tiebreakers favoring the 49ers if they don’t win on Sunday. This is not entirely shocking, but it is also notable that they would be the earliest team eliminated since the Denver Broncos in 1967. They were in the AFL at that point, and there were nine teams.
TIEBREAKERS: Likely SF eliminated from playoffs with loss next wk vs NYG; would be 1st team out w/7 wks to play since 1967 (DEN)...checking
— Joe Ferreira (@JoeNFL) November 6, 2017
The 49ers cannot win the division even if they win out. The Los Angeles Rams lead the division with a 6-2 record, and sit half game ahead of the now 6-3 Seattle Seahawks. If the 49ers win out, they would finish with a 2-4 divisional record, while the Seahawks already have three wins in the division.
They could technically finish ahead of the Rams, but with no wins in conference, the best they can finish there is 4-8. They would be behind New Orleans in the wild card who has five wins already. It appears they would be behind in the win percentage for common games tiebreaker for the remaining wild card possibilities.
I suppose none of that minutiae really matters. At 0-9, I don’t think anybody here actually thought they would win out and claim a playoff berth. Well, maybe one or two of you. But it does say something that they are getting eliminated so early in the process. It says something about how bad they are, but also how many teams are clumped together between four and six wins.