Currently, as things stand after Week 13, the 9-4 San Francisco 49ers are holding onto the No. 7 and final spot in the NFC playoff picture, the last Wild Card team currently in the postseason projection.
It won't look that way once Week 14 is in the books, though.
True, the Niners are on their bye week. Even though they're not playing, they'll advance in the NFC seeding regardless, which is a boost, considering how jam-packed both the NFC West and the conference are as a whole, currently.
And it's all thanks to one game on the upcoming weekend's docket: an NFC North showdown between the top-seeded 9-3 Chicago Bears and the 8-3-1 Green Bay Packers, currently the No. 6 seed.
49ers will advance in NFL playoff seeding regardless of Week 14 outcomes
For reference, here's the current playoff picture entering Week 14:
- Chicago Bears (9-3, 1st NFC North)
- Los Angeles Rams (9-3, 1st NFC West)
- Philadelphia Eagles (8-4, 1st NFC East)
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers (7-5, 1st NFC South)
- Seattle Seahawks (9-3, 2nd NFC West)
- Green Bay Packers (8-3-1, 2nd NFC North)
- San Francisco 49ers (9-4, 3rd NFC West)
It's wild both the Nos. 1 and 7 seeds equally have nine wins, but that's the case.
What's crazier is San Francisco is guaranteed to advance no worse than one spot in the playoff picture, based solely on the outcome of the Bears-Packers showdown. A Green Bay loss would result in an 8-4-1 record, meaning the 49ers would leapfrog the Packers in seeding by default.
Meanwhile, a Bears loss that'd drop them to 9-4 would result in Chicago potentially falling to No. 7 in the seeding despite an identical record with the Niners, thanks to the latter boasting an 8-2 conference record and owning the tiebreaker over the Bears' 6-2 conference record.
NFC playoff picture
— Matt Maiocco (@MaioccoNBCS) December 2, 2025
Entering Week 14
Division leaders
🏈Bears 9-3
🏈Rams 9-3
🏈Eagles 8-4
🏈Buccaneers 7-5
Wild cards
🏈Seahawks 9-3
🏈Packers 8-3-1
🏈49ers 9-4
Also …
Lions 7-5
Cowboys 6-5-1
Panthers 7-6
*Bears at Packers, so 49ers will be no worse than No. 6 after Sunday.
It could get even better, too. Should the Seahawks and Rams lose to both the Atlanta Falcons and Arizona Cardinals, respectively, the Niners would find themselves in (wait for it) the No. 2 seed.
Incredible.
Sure, the regular season doesn't end after Week 14, and a highly touted head-to-head showdown between Chicago and San Francisco in Week 17 will have a big influence on the final standings and seedings.
But, for now at least, it's nice to know the 49ers will climb at least one spot in the playoff picture without having to do a single thing.