Week 14’s bye was the last break of the season for any team, and as the race for the postseason tightens, it came at a crucial moment for the San Francisco 49ers to get healthy after a three game winning streak.
And with the week’s results, especially the Chicago Bears loss, the 49ers saw their position in the conference change even without taking the field, showing how competitive the 2025 conference race has become.
49ers Move Up To Sixth Seed In NFC
The battle for the postseason in the NFC is one of the tightest in recent years, with six of the seven teams currently in playoff position holding a real chance to claim the conference’s number one seed.
For San Francisco, that would mean a week off and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs, including the Super Bowl, which will be played at Levi’s Stadium, the 49ers’ home. In a transition year where the team rebuilt its roster and lost key players during the season, a significant show of resilience would be a notable achievement.
The Green Bay Packers’ win over the Bears moved Green Bay into the division lead and knocked Chicago out of the NFC’s top seed, which now belongs to the Los Angeles Rams. In fact, the Bears slid to the seventh seed, previously held by the 49ers, who moved up to the sixth seed despite not playing.
With an 87.5 percent chance of making the playoffs according to the PFSN Football Playoff Meter, the 49ers edge out the Bears in the standings because of their better record within the conference, with an 8-2 mark against NFC teams compared to Chicago’s 6-3.
San Francisco’s next games are relatively manageable, facing the Tennessee Titans at home and the Indianapolis Colts on the road in the Week 16 Monday Night Football matchup, although without Daniel Jones, who tore his Achilles tendon and is out for the season.
After that comes the decisive Week 17 game against the Bears.
If they win out, their chances of securing the NFC’s top seed rise significantly, and for that to happen, they would need at least one loss from both the Packers and the Rams so they could enter Week 18 needing only to beat Seattle to lock in the bye.
