The San Francisco 49ers are at a critical junction in the 2024 season as they travel to Green Bay, Wisconsin, to face the Packers. The 5-5 49ers know they've dug a hole that will be difficult to overcome. The 49ers won't be mathematically eliminated if they lose this game in Green Bay, but their chances of making the postseason will drop significantly.
And the 49ers' chances of winning on the road against the 7-3 Packers became more difficult on Friday with the news that QB Brock Purdy and DL Nick Bosa won't play. Losing those two players may be more than the defending NFC Champions can conquer. And if that wasn't enough, LT Trent Williams is questionable, potentially making QB Brandon Allen's first start with the 49ers even more of a challenge.
On Friday, Greg Papa of NBC Sports Bay Area sat down with 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan on the latest episode of "49ers Game Plan." Papa brought up the 2021 season when the 49ers went to Green Bay and beat the Packers in the playoffs on a freezing, snowy game. He pointed out that the 49ers began that season 3-5 and still made it to the NFC Championship Game. So what is the message Shanahan is giving to his team, at 5-5, with two challenging road games coming up? Is it a must-win game?
"When you're sitting there with five losses, every game is like this," Shanahan said. "You want to win your division, all that stuff, but your goal is to just get into the tournament. And if you get in there, we always feel we have a shot. Putting ourself in this hole at 5-5, we don't have any more games we can give away. I'd like to always say 11-6 will get you in the playoffs, 10-7 we've gotten into the playoffs. That's what we did last time we went there and beat them. But after that, you can't count on anything, so we don't have much room for error. And that's why every game, I feel like, is like that.
"I can't say it's a truly must-win. I'll say that when I know we're eliminated with one more loss, but it's either one or two. You start to look at three more losses and you have to have some really big luck, and that's nothing you want to count on. So we gotta control our future, and the only way you can do that is by winning these games."
The 49ers will return to Santa Clara after the game in Green Bay, allowing the team to spend time with their families for Thanksgiving. But then the 49ers will head to Buffalo to play the Bills. These are two critical games in which the 49ers must split to keep their postseason hopes alive. Two more losses put the 49ers at 5-7. And while that hole may not be impossible to escape, it won't be very likely.
Watch Papa's full interview with Shanahan here: