The core of players the San Francisco 49ers have now has never been a group to give up hope when the chips are down. That's not about to change now, even though their outlook looks much bleaker than it did at the beginning of the day.
Coming into Sunday's home matchup against the Seattle Seahawks, the 49ers were coming off a hard-fought road win against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and were favored to win their third consecutive game. A win over the Seahawks would have put them at 6-4, which would have kept them tied for first place in the NFC West with the Arizona Cardinals.
The 49ers lost to the Seahawks, however, which dropped them into a three-way tie for second place in the NFC West with the Seahawks and Los Angeles Rams. What's worse is the game had the same types of struggles the 49ers had shown earlier in the season, such as costly mistakes and blown leads, that are atypical of a team with their track record and potential. The fact that those issues (along with a number of injuries) still exist ten games into the season doesn't exactly inspire confidence on the outside that the 49ers will eventually look on a consistent basis like the Super Bowl contender they were expected to be.
"It's just infuriating, honestly," linebacker Fred Warner said after the loss Sunday, adding, "It's not like us, but that's just what we've shown this year. So I guess until we stop doing that, then that's who we are."
But while the loss to the Seahawks may have hit some fans hard in the hope department, the 49ers were still keeping their heads up on Sunday. As is usually the case when they stumble into rough moments, optimism remains consistent among the team's players.
"I still feel like we're a great team," cornerback Isaac Yiadom said. "... I've been on 5-5 teams. Sometimes it's like the confidence is not there and stuff like that, but I still feel like we're a great team. We know what we've got to get fixed. We know the point of emphasis this week, and that's exactly what we're going to do."
Defensive end Nick Bosa, who after the game expressed uncertainty in his upcoming availability due to an injury that sent him to the sidelines against the Seahawks, suggested that it's not time to worry and if the 49ers can get into the postseason, they can do damage.
"It's kind of hard to think about the big picture right now but we have a lot of games left and all we gotta do is get in the dance and I definitely still have confidence," Bosa said.
Getting back in the win column won't be easy for the 49ers, who now face back-to-back road games against the Green Bay Packers (7-3) and Buffalo Bills (9-2). With the real possibility that the 49ers will have to win the NFC West in order to make the playoffs, they're facing a daunting road challenge over the next two weeks without having much room for error. There will be an urgency to win this week and beyond in order to stay in the division race.
"I think that's our mindset for sure is to win every single game," quarterback Brock Purdy said. "And you gotta do it one at a time. You can't look too far ahead. Up next is Green Bay, and we have to be all in on that and not look up. We just have to look down and do our jobs, get better as a unit, and we just gotta find a way to win. It's the NFL. It's not easy, and nothing's ever given to you."
There's obviously a lot for the 49ers to clean up in a short period of time, and the team clearly has their backs in the wall as they head into the remainder of the November schedule. But they've faced long odds in the past only to get hot and make a run into the postseason, so their confidence will probably remain, even if things get darker from here.
"Yeah, I'm always going to have all the confidence in the world and everybody that we have in our building," Warner said."All the answers are in here. It's just about doing it."