Niners Nation
The San Francisco 49ers are roughly 28 hours away from their playoff game against the Philadelphia Eagles. On Saturday, there are a pair of NFC games in the Wild Card round. Let’s walk through how the Divisional Round would look based on Saturday’s results if the Niners can pull off the upset this weekend.
The Los Angeles Rams played their starters in Week 18 after Sean McVay felt like his team needed to play better. They travel east to take on the Carolina Panthers. This game is a rematch from Week 13, when the Panthers shocked the Rams at home 31-28.
The Rams only had five third downs in that game, outgained the Panthers, made the red zone six times, but turned it over three times. Carolina went 3-for-3 on fourth downs, hit all their big plays, and that was the difference.
This time around, it feels like the Rams have a better chance of winning by three possessions than losing. With that said, the Rams leave a lot to be desired defensively.
The night game will be the third meeting between the Chicago Bears and the Green Bay Packers. Both teams split their games over three weeks. The Packers won by a touchdown in the first matchup after having a 14-3 lead at halftime. There were 652 combined yards in that game. Chicago won the rematch 22-16 after recovering an onside kick to send it to overtime. There were 784 yards in that game.
This time around, it feels like the Packers won’t be on the wrong side of an onside kick, lose their quarterback, and come away victorious. With that in mind, Caleb Williams is streaky, and the Packers’ run defense is leaky.
The following scenarios all assume a 49ers win on Sunday.
If the Packers and Rams both win, the Niners would travel to SoFi next weekend to face Los Angeles.
A Green Bay win and a Panthers upset would take San Francisco to Carolina in the Divisional round.
The Bears winning, along with the Rams, means we’d have a Week 1 rematch with the 49ers heading north to take on the Seahawks.
If both home teams win on Saturday, the Niners are still destined for a trip to Seattle.
There are no outcomes in the Wild Card round that would lead to the 49ers playing Chicago in the Divisional round.
