Dan Patrick just said the quiet part out loud about 49ers’ place in the NFC

The San Francisco 49ers beat the Carolina Panthers by double-digits on Monday Night Football, and by doing so, kept themselves in the playoff picture. The win wasn't a pretty one by any means but fans will take winning ugly over losing pretty any day of the week.

With the ugly win, however, there are going to be people talking about this Niners team and who they really are.

Dan Patrick hit the nail on the head when talking about the 49ers and what kind of team they are this year.

He started by asking three questions about the Niners:

"Are the Niners good? Are they relevant? Are they threatening? ... Are they good? They're goodish. Are they relevant? They've got Christian McCaffrey. Are they threatening? I would say no. They're in a tough division. Do I think they're as good as the Rams, no. Seattle, no. They're better than the Cardinals. But you're watching and it's a wounded team... I don't know how they're doing it but give credit... McCaffrey gives you a little bit of running, a little bit of pass receiving, George Kittle has played pretty well, they're just not threatening but they will be relevant because of Christian McCaffrey. Are they good? They're goodish and maybe good enough to get into the postseason but still, you could end up with 10 wins and maybe not get in."

Let's break this down bit by bit because Patrick had a lot of really good points here.

The first being that he'd describe this 49ers team as "goodish," which is a pretty accurate observation. San Francisco is good enough to have eight wins but not good enough to where you wonder how it's being done.

The second point about the Niners being relevant because of McCaffrey is also fair considering the star running back helped dig the 49ers offense out of a hole when Brock Purdy threw three first-half interceptions against Carolina.

Imagine where this team would be at this year without McCaffrey's heroics.

The next part about the 49ers playing in the difficult NFC West is also a solid point to make here. They're the third-best team in that division, and that's obviously going to make things harder when it comes to the playoff picture because they'll have tougher games and therefore a tougher path to get into the dance.

Patrick also touched on how beat up the Niners are but how they continue to win in spite of those injuries. Some of this comes back to McCaffrey and how he's able to carry the offense when the rest of the unit isn't having a good night, but Patrick's "the 49ers aren't threatening" take makes perfect sense because of the injuries and how tough the division is. They are a team that can win games but might not be able to keep doing so at the rate they have.

Ultimately, it wouldn't surprise Niners fans if the team got into the playoffs as a Wild Card (likely a No. 7 seed) but then got bounced by a team like the Rams or Philadelphia Eagles.

That would be the definition of a goodish, non-threatening team, so this assessment is more than fair.