Niners Nation
49ers’ 2026 NFL Draft position finalized after Rams beat Bears in playoffs
“Following Sunday night’s Divisional Round playoff game—when the Los Angeles Rams defeated the Chicago Bears—the 49ers officially secured the 27th overall pick in the first round.”
49ers’ improbable season ends with defiance, pride despite thumping from Seahawks (paywall)
“Nobody thought we’d be here, let alone thought we would win this game,” said offensive tackle Trent Williams, who had a similar message when he spoke to teammates in the locker room minutes after the final whistle. “At the end of the day, we’re playing with house money when we get to this point, considering who we played with.”
Fullback Kyle Juszczyk, who, like Williams, has been in the NFL for well over a decade, called 2025 “one of the most enjoyable seasons that I’ve had.”
“It’s just a really special group,” Juszczyk said. “It’s just fun to play with other guys that will put absolutely everything on the line. Because that gives you confidence to do so yourself. Because you know your brothers have your back this year.”
Coach Kyle Shanahan said he didn’t talk about the game when he gathered his team in the locker room afterward.
“I thanked them for the whole season, how much they battled for everything,” he said. “I know everyone was sick about tonight, how it went in every facet, but I tried not to make it about tonight when I was with them. I thanked them for what they’ve done all year, and I’ve been extremely proud of everyone in that room throughout this year.”
Kawakami: What the 49ers proved this season — ‘It’s not the end for us’ (paywall)
““I’m super excited for what we have with this group, the future that we have,” Williams said later at the podium when asked about his address to the team. “Obviously, tonight sucks, but it’s not the end for us. …
“A lot of people tried to fight until they couldn’t fight no more.”
It wasn’t the end to this 49ers journey. It’s closer to the beginning. It’s about suffering a litany of devastating injuries, figuring out how to win 12 regular-season games and knocking off the defending-champion Eagles in the wild-card round.
And it’s about inevitably running up against a healthier, tougher, more talented team on Saturday and understanding that they can and maybe should be healthier, tougher, and more talented than everybody next season. And maybe the season after that, too.
Which made everything about the 49ers’ postgame mood very different than all the other painful playoff losses of this era — twice in the Super Bowl and twice in the NFC Championship Game.
Those old moments were unalloyed torment for the 49ers, filled with tears and dead silence. Those really felt like the end of something that might never be regained.
But on Saturday, Williams, Kyle Shanahan, and other team leaders made sure that this wasn’t about the pain of what could’ve been. It was about the agony of what...
