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The 49ers Have a 57 Percent Chance to Make the Playoffs per NFL.com

Clearly, their easiest path to the playoffs is to win the division.

Grant Cohn

Oct 27, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle (85) celebrates after scoring a touchdown against the Dallas Cowboys during the third quarter at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-Imagn Images
Oct 27, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle (85) celebrates after scoring a touchdown against the Dallas Cowboys during the third quarter at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-Imagn Images / Kelley L Cox-Imagn Images
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If the season were to end today, the 49ers wouldn't make the playoffs.

They're currently third place in the NFC West and ninth in the NFC. That's because they're 4-4 and they've lost to the Rams and the Cardinals. And yet despite their slow start, the 49ers still have a 57 percent chance to make the playoffs according to NFL.com.

Clearly, their easiest path to the playoffs is to win the division. The first-place Cardinals are 5-4, so the 49ers aren't far behind them. And the Cardinals have a 49 percent chance to make the playoffs, and the Rams have a 22 percent chance, so the 49ers are expected to eke out the division.

But the Cardinals have a relatively easy schedule remaining. They have two games left against the Seahawks, one against the Patriots and one against the Panthers. Those are four potential wins right there. They also play the Vikings, 49ers and Rams. If the Cardinals win won or two of those games, they'll probably win the division.

The 49ers also could make the playoffs as a wildcard team. The current 7th seed, the Packers, have just a 61 percent chance of making the playoffs, so they're no sure thing either. The 49ers will play the Packers in Green Bay on Nov. 24. That game ultimately could determine which team goes to the postseason.

The 49ers certainly have more than enough talent to reach the playoffs, and if Christian McCaffrey returns this Sunday and stays healthy for the rest of the season, the 49ers could go on a winning streak.

Stay tuned.

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Grant Cohn
GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.

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