The San Francisco 49ers entered Monday night in the sixth spot of the NFC playoff standings. That much didn't change following the Los Angeles Rams beating the Arizona Cardinals 30-23. But it sure did impact the top of the conference standings.
Heading into the final game of Week 14, the Cardinals owned the top spot on the NFC playoff picture. That spot is crucial because only one team receives a bye week. The other six are forced to play in the opening Wild Card round. With the loss, the Cardinals fell from the top spot to the No. 3 seed, behind the Green Bay Packers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The rest of the NFC playoff picture remains unchanged. Below is a breakdown of the current playoff picture in the NFC, with the first four teams listed being the current division leaders.
- Green Bay Packers, 10-3
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 10-3
- Arizona Cardinals, 10-3
- Dallas Cowboys, 9-4
- Los Angeles Rams, 9-4
- San Francisco 49ers, 7-6
- Washington Football Team, 6-7
Below are the top four teams in the hunt to make their way into the playoff picture.
- Minnesota Vikings, 6-7
- Philadelphia Eagles, 6-7
- Atlanta Falcons, 6-7
- New Orleans Saints, 6-7
In the playoff picture preceding Monday's game, had the season been over, the 49ers would have opened the postseason with a visit to Tampa, Florida, to play the Buccaneers. Under the new playoff picture, the Cardinals would host the 49ers in an NFC West Wild Card showdown if the season ended today.
Of course, there is still a lot of football to be played, and no one is looking too far ahead. Niners head coach Kyle Shanahan is just focused on locking up a playoff spot at this point. So keep winning, and everything else will figure itself out.
"I personally don't think about positioning at all," Shanahan said on Monday. "I just think of how to get there. If we were guaranteed, if we were locked in there and that was done, then my mind would probably move to positioning and what we thought gave us the best advantage.
"But the main thing you always look [at] is just how you get a home game. And that's far away from looking at that, that way. So no, I haven't considered anything except win enough games until they tell us we're in and when we're in, then probably have another thought after that."
The 49ers will host the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday, then travel to play the Tennessee Titans on a short week, host the Houston Texans, and close out the regular season with an NFC West rematch against the Rams.