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Where the 49ers Stand in the NFC and the NFC West After Week 9

The 49ers are in a tough spot.

Grant Cohn

Oct 27, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers fullback Kyle Juszczyk (44) raises his helmet as he leaves the field after the game against the Dallas Cowboys at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-Imagn Images
Oct 27, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers fullback Kyle Juszczyk (44) raises his helmet as he leaves the field after the game against the Dallas Cowboys at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-Imagn Images / Kelley L Cox-Imagn Images
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The 49ers are in a tough spot.

They didn't play this weekend, but every other team in their division did. And the Cardinals beat the Bears and the Rams beat the Seahawks. Which means the Cardinals are in first place in the NFC West, the Rams are in second place, the 49ers are in third place and the Seahawks are in last.

Of course, the Cardinals have just one more win than the 49ers. But the Cardinals beat the 49ers head-to-head a few weeks ago, so they currently have the tie-breaker. And the Rams beat the 49ers as well, which is why the Rams are ahead of them despite having the same record.

In addition, the Detroit Lions beat the Green Bay Packers today, so the 49ers can forget about getting the no. 1 seed. The Lions have been a juggernaut all season -- they seem like the class of the NFC if not the entire league. They have the best offensive line, two excellent running backs, a terrific tight end, two explosive wide receivers and the most accurate quarterback in the NFL.

So even if Christian McCaffrey comes back for the second half of the season, there's no guarantee the 49ers will return to the Super Bowl. The NFC and the NFC West are much more competitive than it was a year ago and the 49ers have regressed. Their defense is ordinary and their special teams are horrible.

We'll see if the 49ers can catch the Cardinals and Rams.

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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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