3 reasons why 49ers must win tonight against the Seahawks

It's pretty easy to feel less than enthused by the idea of cheering on the San Francisco 49ers tonight on Thursday Night Football.

After all, the Niners are 2-3, with all three losses being games they arguably should've won, while all three phases -- offense, defense and special teams -- ranging from either sputtering to downright broken.

But the 49ers need more than anything to show up tonight in prime time against the Seattle Seahawks and carry the fanbase with them.

Because this game, even so early in the season, is a must-win. Let's look at the reasons why.

No. 1: Divisional record

The two inter-divisional losses San Francisco had to the Los Angeles Rams and the Arizona Cardinals would've been bad enough, particularly because neither the Rams nor the Cardinals are anywhere near the 49ers' talent level. But it's exacerbated by the fact it puts the team behind the eight-ball in terms of a key tiebreaker, that being both divisional (and therefore conference) record.

Losing to two NFC West foes in the Rams and Cardinals has the 49ers at 0-2 in the division, and when you add the close loss in Minnesota to the Vikings to that, it also places the Niners at 0-3 in the NFC.

These aren't insurmountable problems, but as both division and conference records are used as tiebreakers for the playoffs, looking at how the NFC West has started places San Francisco in a difficult spot. It's pretty clear from the results over the first five weeks of the season that the NFC West will be a tight division where tiebreakers look likely to break ties in standings, and an aging squad that needs the best playoff seeding it can get.

For the 49ers to realize their ambitions, they need to turn that around.

A win against possibly their biggest conference and division rivals in the Seahawks would make an enormous difference to both records and allow them to steal a march on their rivals to boot.

Losing, however, would put them even further into tiebreaker trouble.