There are a multitude of different scenarios that could play out in Week 18 the affect the 49ers in the playoffs. The most important of those, of course, is getting the number one seed in the NFC and the all-important first round bye. During his press conference yesterday, Kyle Shanahan addressed whether he’d adjust his management of players based on the scores around the league.
“I think about a lot of that stuff. I don’t talk about it all. We’ll see how it plays out and we’ll see what the situation is and I know one thing we would love to be the one seed, but right now we got the two seed and we want to make sure we at least stay the two seed. In order to do that, we need to win.
Maybe if Minnesota lost before us, that wouldn’t be the case, but I’m counting on us having to win to get that and we’re not going to know until the game’s over whether we have a chance for the one seed. To me, there’s only thing one thing that guys should be worried about and our team should be talking about, and that is beating Arizona.”
It’s highly unlikely that the Vikings lose to Nathan Peterman and the Chicago Bears in the early window of games, but that would certainly help Kyle feel a little better about exercising some load management against the Cardinals.
If the Vikings win as expected, all eyes will turn to the Eagles’ game against the Giants since Philadelphia can clinch the top seed in the conference with a win. As of right now Jalen Hurts’ status for the game is unclear, as is whether Giants Head Coach Brian Daboll will play his starters. For what it’s worth, the spread in the game is Eagles -14 points.
Hear more about this and other stories in today’s 49ers in Five podcast. Our five minute daily update gives you the latest news, best audio clips, and everything else you need to know about the team. Subscribe to the Niners Nation Podcast Network today so you don’t miss an episode!
Loading comments...