The 49ers have business of their own to attend to, but Sunday’s NFL slate couldn’t have gone much better for them.
Step One for San Francisco was getting a win. They handled that with a 35-7 blowout of the Buccaneers.
Step Two was getting a Vikings loss in the morning. Minnesota fell to their NFC North rival Lions 34-23, which dropped their record to 10-3 on the season, just one game ahead of the 49ers for the No. 2 seed in the NFC.
Since the 49ers and Vikings don’t play against each other this season, the first tiebreaker will be conference record, where the 49ers now hold a one-game advantage. Minnesota is 6-3 vs. the NFC, while San Francisco is 7-2 against the conference. The Vikings face the Colts at home next week.
Step Three, and the biggest help the 49ers could’ve gotten Sunday, was a Seattle loss. The Panthers went into Lumen Field and knocked off the Seahawks 30-24 in a game that wasn’t as close as the final score indicated.
The Seattle loss dropped them to 7-6 on the season, a full two games back of the 49ers. That sets the stakes extremely high for their matchup Thursday night. If San Francisco wins, they clinch the division since they’ll hold the head-to-head tiebreaker and Seattle could at best tie them by season’s end.
It was overall a very good Sunday for the 49ers.
