3 spots 49ers need to shore up entering 2020 NFL playoffs
By Peter Panacy
The San Francisco 49ers have proven they can win playoff-caliber matchups, having done so late in the regular season. But cleaning up these three areas will be helpful when it’s a “win or go home” scenario.
Thankfully, the San Francisco 49ers own the bye week for the Wild Card round of the NFL playoffs, having gone 13-3 in the regular season and securing the No. 1 seed in the NFC.
This two-week break will be important, giving everyone on the roster a chance to rest up and prepare, while also affording time for a number of key players to return from injuries, certainly improving head coach Kyle Shanahan’s chances to get his squad into Super Bowl LIV this February.
That said, the Niners would be wise to clean up a few aspects of their game in the postseason. Sure, having a gauntlet of playoff-like matchups down the stretch already prepared Shanahan and Co. for this kind of atmosphere they’ll face when they kick off their postseason campaign in the NFC divisional round.
Yet a number of those contests also revealed some key weaknesses the team will have to address, too.
The Seattle Seahawks exposed some of these weaknesses in Week 17, coming a mere inches from seizing the NFC West crown and putting San Francisco into the No. 5 seed. The New Orleans Saints, back in Week 14, also exposed some problematic areas as well, despite the Niners pulling off arguably the most thrilling regular-season win of the year.
There were other moments, too, shedding light on aspects Shanahan and his coaching staff will have to address.
Niner Noise explores three areas the 49ers would be wise to shore up between now and the divisional round.