"San Francisco wasn't flashy in their 26-8 win over the Browns. They weren't particularly exciting. But a ninth win is a ninth win. And in this league, a ninth win in December doesn't just loom large. It casts a shadow over the entire conference. What if the Niners aren't the chasing team, but, in fact, the team being chased? Sunday's win puts San Francisco squarely in the driver's seat for the NFC playoffs."
"I think looking from the outside in, if people said you're going to be 9-4 going into the bye and you're not going to have Fred Warner or Nick Bosa and [George] Kittle is going to miss five games and Brock [Purdy] is going to miss six, I think a lot of people would have laughed, Kittle said after Sunday's game. Of course they would have. How couldn't they? And yet here we are."
The 49ers defeated the Browns 26-8 in adverse Cleveland winter conditions, delivering a precise, professional performance despite injuries and a short week. The victory marked San Francisco's ninth win and substantially improved postseason outlook, with analytics assigning a 93 percent playoff probability. A home game against one-win Tennessee in Week 15 and three remaining regular-season games leave the team needing likely one more victory to secure a postseason berth. Recent losses by division rivals and a favorable remaining schedule expand the possibility of winning the NFC West or securing a top seed.
Read at www.mercurynews.com
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