The San Francisco 49ers simply need to win two more games in order to secure the No. 1 overall seed in the conference's postseason picture, and the prospects for doing so begin when they host the 11-4 Chicago Bears on Sunday Night Football in Week 17.
Head coach Kyle Shanahan's squad has been no stranger to injuries this season. But, as the Niners have steadily improved their health in recent weeks, plenty of other teams have watched their own injury issues pile up.
Including Chicago, currently the NFC North leaders and the No. 2 seed in the conference.
While the Bears have been exceptionally hot as of late, winners of seven of their last eight games, they'll also be without one of quarterback Caleb Williams' best weapons for the showdown, meaning a suspect defense under coordinator Robert Saleh should have things just a little easier for the primetime showdown at Levi's Stadium.
Bears to be without WR Rome Odunze vs. 49ers
Chicago ruled out second-year wide receiver Rome Odunze for Sunday night's tilt as the 2024 first-round NFL Draft pick is dealing with a foot issue that has already sidelined him for three previous games.
While San Francisco obviously isn't relishing another player's injury, it's a bit of a relief for a secondary that has plenty of question marks on the year already, specifically at cornerback where there isn't a lot of proven depth behind starters Deommodore Lenoir and Renardo Green. In fact, the 49ers' previous opponent, the Indianapolis Colts, attempted to exploit this frequently a week ago and were fairly successful in those efforts early on.
One can imagine Williams and head coach Ben Johnson have already taken note and will try replicating Indy's first-half efforts.
Except it'll be made a bit more difficult without Odunze, who leads Chicago with 90 targets despite the missed time and still has 661 receiving yards and six touchdowns on the year.
His absence certainly takes some pressure off the Niners' relatively inexperienced defensive backfield.