The scenarios for the 49ers to make the playoffs are complicated and unrealistic.
What I’m asking the 49ers to do in Sunday’s game with the Bears is simple and achievable:
Show some pride.
This might not be a team that can compete for the championship (or even make the tournament) but that doesn’t mean anyone should roll over.
This isn’t the NBA, after all.
No, in the NFL, there is still plenty to play for, even if the season’s original goals have gone up in smoke.
Sunday is the perfect spot for San Francisco to get right. They’re facing a Chicago team with a rookie quarterback, a head coach in his first game, and the general stench of chaos around them.
Don’t get me wrong, the Bears have many admirable qualities, and they can absolutely win Sunday’s game, which should be called the MiseraBowl.
But surely the Niners — for all their faults and fumbles — aren’t as bad as these guys.
Right?
Say what you will about the Niners (I’ve said it all by now), but at least they’re not possibly starting former Seahawk special teamer Travis Homer at running back Sunday—no, they’ll have rookie Issac Guerendo in the backfield. And while Bears fans wondered if interim head coach Thomas Brown (who was promoted to offensive coordinator 17 days prior) would fulfill his new gig from the booth, the Niners haven’t dealt with coaching-from-the-booth issues for over a year.
And instead of wondering if their quarterback is “the guy” to stake the franchise, like the Bears with rookie Caleb Williams, the Niners are trying to figure out how much to pay the quarterback on whom they’ll stake the franchise. That’s totally different!
But, hey, the Niners will be at home on Sunday. That has to count for something.
Ok, the margins between these two teams might be tighter than initially expected, but this Niners’ season still matters. If not the quixotic quest for the playoffs, then as a testament to quality for players and coaches and a momentum starter for the 2025 season.
“Just flush the things that have happened. Don’t worry about what has happened in the past,” George Kittle said this week. “Flush it, try to be your best self, and just move forward because we still have a lot of great players on this team that can all make really special plays. And all it takes is a spark to get the boys going, and then after that, we’ll see what can happen.”
This is the beauty of the NFL — every game has meaning, even if neither team should have any interest in actually playing the game.
And for all the conversation around the Niners tanking for a good draft pick, wouldn’t it be better to pull it together and play — for the first time all season — some solid football final weeks, making the Seahawks and Cardinals — who need a playoff berth more than the Niners — sweat until the very end, and put a dent in the notion that this team’s stock is in a tailspin?
This is a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately league, after all. Lesser teams have earned more reputation from less than what is being asked of the Niners.
Draft picks? That can all be sorted out in the spring. And it’s not like the Niners need to position themselves for a quarterback at the top of the first round. (We saw how that worked out last time.)
No, the Niners need both quality and quantity this upcoming offseason. They’ll need to build up both lines and their defense with young and cheap players.
But this team isn’t tearing things down to the foundation—this isn’t a full-on rebuild. No, call it a restructuring. It’s one part a penance for trying to run back the same team that went to the Super Bowl in 2023, another, the natural autophagy of a football team. It’s a crucial offseason, no doubt, and wouldn’t it be better if the Niners entered it with a reason to believe they are still a team to beat in the NFC?
The Niners built a stars-and-scrubs roster and were decimated by bad injuries to those stars. They played with fire and were burned.
After a season as disappointing as this one, the Niners have to prove that their window of contention for that long-sought sixth Lombardi Trophy is still open. That this team isn’t done, even if this season is.
Beating the Bears won’t reverse this campaign’s trend or give the Niners a leg up in 2025, but losing to Chicago certainly wouldn’t help the cause.
Whatever lie the 49ers need to tell themselves to get up for this game needs to be said. The Niners’ best might not be all that great anymore, but it’s time for that best to show itself. Great players and teams are self-motivated, after all.
Consider this the 2025 preseason, folks. What the Niners do on Sunday and in the final four games of the season will give us a great hint as to what we can expect next year.
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