San Francisco 49ers players gathered at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, on Monday night to watch the Seattle Seahawks take on the Minnesota Vikings. The team had a vested interest in the game after losing on Sunday to the Baltimore Ravens.
The game did not go as they had hoped. By the end, the 49ers found themselves plummet from the top spot in the NFC playoff standings to No. 5 and second place in the NFC West.
Despite the fall in the standings, the 49ers' mentality has not changed. As has been the case all season, they remain focused on what is in front of them, and right now, that is the New Orleans Saints.
Second-year linebacker Fred Warner joined KNBR on Tuesday and discussed owning a 10-2 record yet looking up at the Seahawks in the NFC West.
"I don't pay attention to [the playoff seeding] at all," Warner told Greg Papa and John Lund. "It's frustrating being a competitor, losing football games. That's for sure frustrating. You obviously want to win every game, but at the same time, you've got to understand we're 10-2.
"Especially if you look back a year ago, where we were, being a 10-2 football team, having the team that we have, we can only go up from here. I'm excited to get going this week. I know the rest of the guys are, and so we're ready to go."
The stakes are high (again) this week, and will probably stay that way for the remainder of the season. The 49ers travel to play quarterback Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints, then close out the season with home games against the Atlanta Falcons and Los Angeles Rams before a road matchup in Seattle.
"In terms of the division, I feel like it is what it is," Warner continued. "We'll have a chance to play [Seattle] again at the end of the season, so we'll worry about that when it comes."
Over the past five weeks, the 49ers have faced Kyler Murray twice, Russell Wilson, Aaron Rodgers, and Lamar Jackson with Brees coming up next. That's a pretty difficult slate of opposing quarterbacks to go up against.
Warner and the 49ers don't look at the challenge in its entirety and remain focused on each upcoming opponent.
"I feel like it's a great challenge for us, of course," Warner said. "If you think about them as a full group, it might seem a little overwhelming. I feel like we just take it one week at a time, one game at a time. That's kind of our mindset. It keeps it to where we're more dialed in and not having to worry about, 'Oh, we have such and such next week,' and then looking a couple of weeks from there, 'We have such and so.'
"It's just making sure you have focus on what you're doing right now. That's what I think is most important."
You can listen to the entire conversation with Warner below.
