“We have to win them all.” That was the phrase from the head coach of the 49ers, Kyle Shanahan, following the 35-10 defeat on Sunday night in Buffalo against the Bills, which left the San Francisco team with very few playoff chances.
The “Niners” have five games left, most of them tough, like the Rams, the Lions (currently the best team in the National Conference), and the visit to the Cardinals to close the regular season.
Therefore, the projections site from The Athletic gives the 49ers an 8% chance of qualifying for the playoffs.
With a record of 5-7, the "viable" path for San Francisco would be to win the NFC West Division, which is currently led by the Seattle Seahawks with a 7-5 record.
Do the 49ers have real chances of making the playoffs without Christian McCaffrey?
The major problem for San Francisco this season has been injuries. The team is filled with stars, such as Deebo Samuel, Christian McCaffrey, Brandon Aiyuk, George Kittle, Brock Purdy, Trent Williams, and Nick Bosa, but all of them missed at least one game due to injury this season.
The most severe case is that of the receiver, Brando Aiyuk, who in October tore the ligaments in his right knee and was ruled out for the rest of the season.
Running back McCaffrey, the NFL's best offensive player in 2023, missed the first eight games of the 2024 season due to tendinitis in the Achilles tendon of both his legs. In the second quarter against the Bills, after hitting the frozen artificial turf caused by a storm, he injured the inner ligament of his right knee. Although CMC will not need surgery, he will miss the rest of the regular season and would only return in the event of a miracle that qualifies the “Niners” for the second round of the playoffs.
In the same game in Buffalo, the 49ers also lost Jordan Mason, McCaffrey's backup, for the remainder of the season due to an ankle sprain.
For the same reason, San Francisco's ground game, vital for Shanahan's offensive scheme, was reduced to rookie Isaac Guerendo and Patrick Taylor, who was promoted from the practice squad.
Al-Shaair recibió tres partidos de suspensión
The Texans linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair was part of the negative news in NFL Week 13 after delivering a violent hit to Trevor Lawrence's face, when the Jaguars quarterback was sliding to end a play in the second quarter of the game held on Sunday in Jacksonville.
The reprehensible action of Al-Shaair provoked a violent reaction from Lawrence's teammates and widespread criticism in the league.
The NFL announced this Tuesday the punishment against the Houston player: three-game suspension, during which he will not receive pay. The sanction was announced by the NFL's vice president of football operations, Jon Runyan, and as part of the arguments, previous violations of the rules by Al-Shaair during 2024 were mentioned.
In any case, Al-Shaair will be able to return for the last game of the regular season and for the playoffs, a stage that the Texans should reach without setbacks as champions of the AFC South Division.
Is Coaching the Bears the Most Coveted Position in the NFL?
The Chicago Bears are in crisis. Last year as well, and 2022 was no different. This season, the debacle is so significant that on Friday, following a loss filled with poor decisions by Matt Eberflus on Thanksgiving Day against the Lions, they decided for the first time in 105 years to fire the head coach.
The problem is that that Friday morning Eberflus still held a virtual conference and then he was fired.
Despite this scenario of sports crisis and poor managerial handling, the leaders of the Bears are convinced that the head coach position in Chicago for the 2025 season will be “the most coveted job in the National Football League this year”
This is what Kevin Warren, president and CEO of the team said on Monday in a press conference 72 hours after the dismissal of Eberflus, in which he was accompanied by general manager Ryan Poles.
Warren says it is advantageous for the Bears to be a team with young talent, such as quarterback Caleb Williams (first pick in the latest Draft) and a lot of cap space to invest in new talent.
What Warren doesn't say, or doesn't want to see, is that the long-standing crisis of the team works against the Bears when it comes to attracting a coach; the lack of certainty about who will be the general manager in the medium term, and a complicated locker room that ultimately played a decisive role in Eberflus's departure.
For now, it is known that, in addition to the Bears, the New York Jets and the New Orleans Saints are looking for a new head coach, and among the main candidates are Ben Johnson (offensive coordinator for the Lions), Brian Flores (defensive coordinator for the Vikings), Joe Brady (offensive coordinator for the Bills), Mike Vrabel (former head coach of the Titans) and Bill Belichick (historic former coach who won six Super Bowls with the Patriots).
Thomas Brown, former offensive coordinator, is the interim head coach in Chicago.