The San Francisco 49ers' 2023 season was a lot more exciting during the team's 5-0 start, with a 42-10 thrashing of the Cowboys on Sunday Night Football serving as the de facto coming-out party for the team. Despite a relatively easy start to the year, this Niners team was something to be reckoned with.
But since then, the 49ers have hit a bit of a wall -- well, three walls to be exact -- as they've lost three straight in progressively worse and more annoying fashion.
And yet San Francisco heads into the weekend of its bye sitting in a playoff spot, albeit a Wild Card slot and not as division winners, and with just a little over half of games to play.
Add to that the deadline-day trade for former Commanders EDGE Chase Young to add to the 49ers' already formidable (if underperforming) defensive line, and there is a ray of optimism shining through the proverbial heavy clouds looming over Santa Clara for the past few weeks.
Still, a glance at the 49ers' remaining games suggests the path back to the playoffs, let alone overtaking the surging Seahawks to secure the NFC West crown, won't be an easy one.
Of their remaining opponents, the Niners will play five of nine on the road, including back-to-back matchups in Seattle on Thanksgiving night and in Philadelphia on Dec. 3.
On top of all that travel, four of their remaining eight opponents (they still have the Seahawks twice) currently have winning records and are holding down playoff spots in their respective conferences while leading their divisions, with two others (the Rams and Cardinals) coming from the Niners' division.
But even with all that in mind, it's safe to say that this 49ers team is still among the best teams in the NFL when they are playing well, something they'll have to do every week for the rest of the season to keep themselves in the hunt for the playoffs.
So let's take a more in depth look at the rest of the schedule and attempt to predict the wins and losses for San Francisco.
Weeks 10-12
Week 10: Sunday, November 12 at Jacksonville, 1 PM ET/10 AM PT
The post-bye run doesn't exactly get off to the easiest start for the 49ers, who have to travel to Jacksonville to take on a 6-2 Jaguars squad that will also be coming off a bye week.
After having two of their last three opponents benefiting from the bye, the Niners will probably think themselves a bit hard done by the NFL schedulers for this little quirk, but you can only play the games on your schedule.
It doesn't help that the Jaguars, who made the playoffs in 2022, are off to quite a good start themselves and are winners of five straight after a 1-2 opening to the season.
The Jaguars sit at 10th in the NFL in both points scored and points allowed, suggesting a good balance to their team, although their passing defense has struggled, ranking 31st in yards allowed while strangely nabbing the second most interceptions heading into Week 9 with 11, which ties the 49ers' output so far.
The raw offensive numbers show a middle of the pack team, but they've been turning it on lately, led by quarterback Trevor Lawrence, wide receiver Calvin Ridley, and running back Travis Etienne.
All this to say that these teams match up pretty well, so it may come down to the 49ers need to get off the schneide and pull out what could be a hotly contested game.
Outcome: Niners win a close one to run their record to 6-3.
Week 11: Sunday, November 19 vs Tampa Bay, 4:05 PM ET/1:05 PM PT
Closing out the Florida portion of their schedule, the 49ers welcome the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to Levi's Stadium looking to keep the winning streak going.
Up until their loss to the Bengals in Week 8, the 49ers had won 11 straight games at home, a run they'll look to restart with the Bucs coming to town.
Tampa isn't a particularly good offensive team, although their major weakness is running the football, as they enter their Week 9 contest ranked 30th in total rushing yards (545) and rushing touchdowns (1) and 31st in yards per carry (3.2).
And while quarterback Baker Mayfield has played solid football so far, the Bucs haven't been able to score, averging just 17.3 points per game while having surpassed that total just three times.
That said, their defense continues to be stout, although in more of a bend but don't break style than they've been in recent years. They also struggle against the pass, allowing 6.5 yards per attempt so far, which ranks 24th in the league.
But a win in Jacksonville should have the 49ers feeling good and hopefully it'll be enough to get a winning streak against a Tampa team they should beat and do so handily.
Outcome: 49ers win by more than two touchdowns to run their record to 7-3.
Week 12: Thursday, November 23 at Seattle, 8:20 PM ET/5:20 PM PT
Another gem from the NFL scheduler makers comes in the form of a second Thursday night game for the 49ers, albeit one that will be on NBC and so will look and feel like Sunday Night Football just on Thursday.
Sure, it's cool that the 49ers are the primetime featured game on Thanksgiving, but given that they already had a short week leading up to their Week 3 home opener on Thursday Night Football against the Giants this season, it feels like overkill.
The 49ers haven't played on Thanksgiving since the Jim Harbaugh days, when they traveled to Baltimore in 2011 to take on John Harbaugh's Ravens and lost 16-6. San Francisco is 2-2-1 all time on Turkey Day.
Not to mention that this begins a three game stretch that may dictate the direction the 49ers' season goes, with this trip to Seattle followed by a cross country jaunt to play the Eagles in Philadelphia 10 days later, and finishing up with the Seahawks again the following week at home.
If San Francisco plays well and wins two or all three of those games, then they'll put themselves back into the conversation for the NFC's no.1 seed and cement their positions as favorites to represent the conference in the Super Bowl.
If they fail, losing two or three, then they'll be scraping and clawing to get into the dance via a wildcard berth and see if they can make some playoff noise that way.
Having said all that, I think the 49ers go up to Seattle and see their mini winning streak cut short at two, putting them in the position to need to win at home in two week's time.
Outcome: 49ers lose a heartbreaker to fall to 7-4.
Weeks 13-15
Week 13: Sunday, December 3 at Philadelphia, 4:25 PM ET/1:25 PM PT
This is the game that 49ers fans have had circled on the calendar since the schedule was announced this Spring.
It's a rematch of the NFC Championship Game that never really got started because of the injury to 49ers' quarterback Brock Purdy. It's the two teams that most experts expect to return to that game again this season, with this regular season contest having a lot to say about where the game was held.
As of this writing, the Eagles sit at 7-1 while the 49ers are 5-3, but Philadelphia has itself a bit of a guantlet as it heads into this early December matchup, with a home game against the Cowboys, their bye, a road test against the Chiefs, and hosting Buffalo in the four weeks in November.
Needless to say, 49ers fans will be rooting for Kansas City and Buffalo, since rooting for the Cowboys is both icky and, in this case, a little counterproductive.
A 1-2 record in those games combined with the predictions here so far means the Eagles would come in with an 8-3 record, a game up on the Niners' prognosticated 7-4.
So yeah, this one would still be huge.
Philadelphia's defense isn't quite the juggurnaut it was in 2023 en route to the Super Bowl and while they added safety Kevin Byard from the Titans before the trade deadline, the 49ers will look to exploit the trouble that Philly has had in stopping the pass, likely with a quick passing game they've seen used against them in recent weeks.
This game will be a nailbitter and probably not a particularly fun way to spend a Sunday afternoon, but I have a feeling the 49ers, who have been waiting for the opportunity to show that the NFC Championship game was an injury-fueled fluke, will show up for this one in a big way.
Outcome: 49ers win, but it won't be fun or pretty, to tie the Eagles at 8-4.
Week 14: Sunday, December 10 vs Seattle, 4:05 PM ET/1:05 PM PT
Although the Eagles game may feel like it matters the most, if Seattle continues to play well and holds serve in the NFC West, winning in Philadelphia won't be enough if they can't beat the Seahawks at home the following week.
Back when the schedule was released, I predicted a split against Seattle with the 49ers losing on the road and winning at home (I also thought they'd start 9-0, something I doubled down on a few weeks ago and lose to the Eagles, so take that for what it's worth).
But because it matters so much in this predicted future, I'll hold to my split, a win that likely keeps the 49ers close in the division or could even give them the lead depending on how Seattle plays in their other games.
Outcome: 49ers win with a little breathing room to get to 9-4.
Week 15: Sunday, December 17 at Arizona, 4:05 PM ET/1:05 PM PT
This one has trap game written all over it considering how massive the run of the previous three weeks will have been for the 49ers.
But while it is technically a road game, it is both a short trip and a game that Niners fans should travel extremely well to, a fact that should give the 49ers the edge even if Kyler Murray is back from his ACL injury and playing by then.
The Cardinals may be playing better than their 1-7 record suggests at this point, but this is still a team that is among the league's worst on both sides of the ball, and even if Murray returns, he can't fix the whole team.
Just like their Week 4 matchup, the game may be closer than you'd want for a while, but the 49ers should eventually pull out a solid win.
Outcome: 49ers get to double digit wins with a thumping in the desert to get to 10-4.
Weeks 16-18
Week 16: Monday, December 25 vs Baltimore, 8:15 PM ET/5:15 PM PT
The 49ers are usually a strong performer on Monday Night Football, but after losing an ugly one to the Vikings in Week 7, their second contest doesn't bode well for them.
The Baltimore Ravens are a really good football team, led once again by quarterback Lamar Jackson and a fantastic defense.
Through eight games, the Ravens are top-10 in a bunch of categories (points for, points against, total yards allowed, passing yards and touchdowns allowed, interceptions, offensive rushing attempts, yards, touchdowns, and yards per carry) as they cement themselves among the elite teams in the AFC.
And even though they aren't great a throwing the ball, they run the ball so well that they are going to prove a difficult matchup for the 49ers defense, which is struggling of late to stop the run and historically have issues keeping mobile quarterbacks under wraps.
Jackson, of course, is the pinnacle of mobile QBs, and is likely to give the Niners fits.
This game feels like it will be similar to the Browns game except the Ravens' offense is much more capable of being explosive. And if the Niners offense can't get going while the defense gets the run around, it will be a tough night in Santa Clara.
Outcome: A tough loss on Monday night again to fall to 10-5.
Week 17: Sunday, December 31 at Washington, 1:00 PM ET/10 AM PT
It's a weird quirk that ultimatley doesn't matter, but it is funny how this is the second time in the second half of the season that the 49ers are playing one home game and one away game against two teams that are geographically close to one another.
But given that the Commanders not only shipped out Chase Young to the 49ers but also his fellow EDGE rusher Montez Sweat to Chicago prior to the trade deadline, it would seem that Washington doesn't expect the rest of their season to go well.
Quarterback Sam Howell is having a decent season in large part because of how good wide receiver Terry McLaurin is, but their defense has been pretty bad with Young and Sweat, so it stands to reason that they won't be any better for the rest of the year.
Outcome: The 49ers thank the Commanders for Chase Young by pounding them into the ground to push their win total to 11-5.
Week 18: Saturday, January 6 OR Sunday, January 7 vs LA Rams, TBD
Unlike 2019, this game won't sere as a de facto NFC Championship game, but the Rams appear like they'll have a lot to say about how the NFC West goes since they still play both the 49ers and Seattle had already beat the Seahawks in Week 1 on the road.
The Rams put up a good fight against the Niners in Week 2 before ultimately succmbing to a better team, so expecte this to be another tight game.
But the 49ers have now won nine straight regular season matchups against the Rams and with the NFC West crown potentially on the line, the Niners will push that streak to double digits and secure the win.
Outcome: 49ers slip past the Seahawks for the NFC West title with yet another home win over the Rams to finish at 12-5.
I'm not sure if 12 wins will be enough to secure the NFC's no.1 seed and this prediction is one fewer win than I conjectured in May, but given the way the last three weeks have gone for the 49ers, getting back to contention is a major victory.