49ers' chances of making playoffs plummet after Week 5 loss to Cardinals
That doesn't help matters at all.
By Peter Panacy
The 49ers' playoff hopes took a serious hit after a disastrous Week 5 home loss to their NFC West rivals, the Cardinals.
In fairness, the San Francisco 49ers have been in less-than-ideal situations to start the regular season before.
Reflecting back in 2021, the Niners started 3-5 and still made it to the NFC Championship game. A year later, a 3-6 start didn't stop head coach Kyle Shanahan's squad from making it to the penultimate playoff game either.
That said, the 2024 team shouldn't be feeling too good about a 2-3 start to the season, highlighted by two ugly losses to NFC West foes, the Los Angeles Rams in Week 2 and the Arizona Cardinals in Week 5.
Those were two winnable games in which San Francisco coughed up a combined three double-digit leads.
While, there is still plenty of time left for the 49ers to "get right," a loss in September or October counts just as much as a loss in December. And it doesn't help matters when looking at the 49ers' 0-2 record within the division either.
49ers' playoff chances take serious hit after loss to Cardinals
After getting back to the .500 mark with a Week 4 win over the New England Patriots, ESPN cited the Niners as having a 72-percent chance of making the postseason. Additionally, San Francisco was tied with both the Minnesota Vikings and Detroit Lions for best chances of winning the NFC as a whole at 16 percent.
Now, with another in-conference loss, the 49ers dropped to having just a nine-percent chance of making the Super Bowl.
As for just getting into the postseason, the Niners took a massive hit, too, with playoff odds dropping from the aforementioned 72 percent all the way down to 50, eighth highest in the NFC.
Brutal.
Going back to the record within the NFC West, starting off 0-2 could carry some serious ramifications when determining tiebreakers after Week 18, especially if San Francisco coughs up yet another crucial in-division game in Week 6 on the road against the Seattle Seahawks on Thursday Night Football.
Adding some desperation to the mix, falling to 0-3 within the NFC West could spell disaster for the 49ers' playoff hopes, which are currently teetering on the brink.
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