3 NFC sleeper teams who contend with 49ers for playoffs
By Peter Panacy
The 49ers are pegged as a ‘probable’ for the NFL playoffs this season, yet these three NFC sleeper teams could bid for a Wild Card berth, too.
If we’re judging solely by FanSided’s game-by-game predictions for the 2021 season, the San Francisco 49ers won’t win the NFC West this year after finishing with a 10-7 record.
They will, however, get in as a Wild Card squad, ultimately losing to the defending Super Bowl champions, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, in Round 1 of the playoffs.
Fine. Those are predictions. Heck, almost everything at this point is a prediction. According to head coach Kyle Shanahan, assuming you and I being able to do something this upcoming weekend is a prediction we’ll both be alive by that point.
Anyway…
Each year, there are teams that seemingly rise out of nowhere to also contend for a highly coveted playoff berth. While 2019 might not have been a massive surprise to Niners fans, the rest of the league was quite shocked San Francisco started off with a hot 8-0 record en route to an NFC title and appearance in Super Bowl LIV after finishing with four wins the year before.
Needless to say, the 49ers’ own conference won’t just include playoff contenders from within the NFC West. No, there are possibly going to be some other sleepers who also “come out of nowhere” to bid on one of the playoff spots the Niners are also looking at this season.
Here are three under-the-radar potential playoff teams San Francisco might be competing with for a postseason berth this year.