T
he 2025 NFL season is entering the final stretch run. Entering week 14, the playoff race is fully on as 14 NFL teams– seven from the NFC and seven from the AFC– look to earn a spot in the postseason for a shot at the Super Bowl. And this season, the race is as close as it gets especially in the NFC, where teams like the 9-3 Chicago Bears sit atop the conference while teams like the San Francisco 49ers sit at 9-4 but are barely hanging onto a playoff spot.
Entering this week but heading into a bye week, the 49ers will use their time off to rest and recover ahead of their final four games of the season. But even though they are not playing in a game, the 49ers will be paying extra close attention to see how the rest of the conference looks at the end of the week. Speaking on the current playoff race, 49ers general manager John Lynch gave his honest take on how things are looking so far this season.
The NFC is Wide Open
As the standings suggest, the NFC is wide open. The 49ers are only half a game worse than the Bears but yet they sit six seeds below them. When speaking on how the NFC race is looking, Lynch said that it is so tight, that this year’s conference title is truly up for grabs.
“The bye does give you some time to look at the big picture, and you guys are right. Who would have thought, after we played Carolina, that they’d go beat the Rams? Well, they did. I think what it shows is, this year it’s anyone’s championship out there. I think it’s going to come down to who can have some good fortune, in terms of being healthy at the right time,” Lynch said.
“But are you getting better each week? And that’s one thing that I’m really proud of our team, and I think Kyle has done an incredible job leading us,” Lynch added. “We’re finding a way in each phase to get a little bit better each week. Regardless of what’s happening in terms of injuries and whatnot, we’re focused on, can we get a little bit better each week? And when you do that, we’ve got enough in our locker room, I believe, to contend. I love the position we’re at, because I don’t think anyone can say, ‘This is the team to beat right now.’ There are a lot of teams in that mix.”
As of Dec. 3, the NFC standings are as follows: 1) Bears, 2) Los Angeles Rams, 3) Philadelphia Eagles, 4) Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 5) Seattle Seahawks, 6) Green Bay Packers, 7) 49ers
49ers’ Schedule After the Bye Week
While the 49ers sit as the lowest seeded team in the NFC, they actually control their own destiny. Coming off of the bye week, the 49ers face the Tennessee Titans, Indianapolis Colts, Bears and Seahawks– going on the road only one more time this season. If the team is able to win out, they will almost certainly see themselves rise in the standings and put themselves in position to host some playoff games.
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