49ers playoff scenarios: Which possible outcome is best?

The San Francisco 49ers are guaranteed a seeding in the top three in the NFC

As the San Francisco 49ers get ready for the regular season finale against the Arizona Cardinals, the one final question the team has to answer is exactly where on the NFC playoff seedings it finishes.

Regardless of result, the team will not finish worse than the No. 3 seed it’s occupied until very recently. A win over the lowly Cardinals will also assure it can’t do any worse than the No. 2 seed it currently sits.

While a Philadelphia Eagles loss to the New York Giants is likely since the Giants are likely to rest starters as it’s locked into the No. 6 seed regardless of any possible result, that coupled with a 49ers win sees San Francisco skate into the No. 1 seed atop the NFC.

Read More: 49ers playoff scenarios: San Francisco still alive for No. 1 seed in the NFC

What’s made the NFC playoff picture a bit interesting is the myriad of suddenly vulnerable teams combined with teams that are finishing the season strong (not unlike the 49ers).

So the question we look at when we view the playoff landscape is: which seed would truly be best for the 49ers and what are the variables that the team need to look out for when it comes to both playoff path and potential opponents.

So for this article we look at all three possible seedings, the potential opponents that they could face in Week 1 and the potential path thereafter.

What’s very interesting is how some certain higher seeded teams (which we will cover) might end up being teams that are much better matchups for the 49ers.

So let’s take a look, seed by seed.