Mike McGlinchey's right. The San Francisco 49ers haven't been eliminated from playoff contention yet. At 4-5, anything is possible. However, given how injuries have ravaged the roster, it will be challenging to reach postseason play.
The 49ers' third-year offensive tackle hasn't given up on his team's chances, though.
"November and December make and break NFL seasons," McGlinchey told reporters on Wednesday. "Everybody can do whatever they want for the first eight, nine weeks of the season. But when it comes down to it, it's the teams that are getting better each and every week, trying to stack days, trying to stack games, and experience ... that really make the run."
San Francisco has $80.8 million worth of salary-cap space on injured reserve, according to ESPN Stats & Information. A week go, the Green Bay Packers ran onto the Levi's Stadium field to battle what has been dubbed as the 49ers' JV team and walked away with a 34-17 win.
"Everybody wants to say that the Niners, we've dealt with all this kind of crap that we've had to deal with all year," McGlinchey continued, "but we still are in position to make a run here. And we've got the right people in this building to build on that every single week, work on the cohesion, work on the communication, work on your techniques, and just play better football, whether it's offense or defense or special teams."
McGlinchey isn't the only one who refuses to believe the 49ers' playoff hopes are over. Head coach Kyle Shanahan is still working toward that goal. He wants to see his squad upset the favored New Orleans Saints this weekend, head into their bye week, and then take care of business in the remaining games.
"I still know we've got a chance to at least get in that tournament at the end of the year," Shanahan said after last week's loss to the Packers, "but we've got to recover a little bit here with these three days and make sure when we come back, we start playing some better football."