How the 49ers could benefit from playoff-like stretch, starting with crucial Packers game
The skeptics of the 49ers will get their questions answered about the team with the NFC’s best record.
It’s been mentioned frequently ahead of Sunday night’s critical game against the Green Bay Packers. San Francisco (9-1) is about to play the toughest three-game stretch this late in the season in the Super Bowl era.
The 49ers’ next three opponents – Green Bay, the Baltimore Ravens and New Orleans Saints – are all 8-2. And according to ESPN Stats and Info, no team has ever played three straight opponents with winning percentages of at least .800 at this point in the year.
Which is why the stretch could be looked at as a dress rehearsal for a playoff run. Or a “training camp for the playoffs,” as one player called it.
Should the 49ers capitalize on their favorable positioning and make the postseason, they’ll have to win at least three straight games against similar-caliber opponents to win a Super Bowl. The Packers are currently the No. 2 seed in the NFC, the Ravens are the No. 2 seed in the AFC and the Saints are No. 3 in the NFC.
As receiver Emmanuel Sanders put it: “Pressure either bursts pipes or makes diamonds.”
49ers about to get key experience
But unlike during the playoffs, the 49ers have margin for error. They can lose over the next three weeks and it won’t define their season. The lessons from all three games could be used to make improvements heading into January.
The 49ers, after all, are a young team. They lost at least 10 games the last four seasons. This year is a culmination of a three-year rebuilding project since coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch took the helm in 2017.
As Shanahan noted Friday, San Francisco’s top-flight defense doesn’t have much experience. Cornerback Richard Sherman and Dee Ford are the only defensive players who have been through long playoff runs.
Star defensive end Nick Bosa is a rookie. Middle linebacker Fred Warner is in Year 2. Standout defensive tackles Arik Armstead and DeForest Buckner will finish above .500 for the first times in their careers.
“To have that kind of feeling early in the season is actually beneficial for us because we know what we need to do to handle those tight situations,” Buckner said.
Shanahan has prioritized messaging ahead of Sunday’s game that begins the gauntlet to ensure his players enjoy the winning rather than stress over it.
“I just try to tell guys that if you get too caught up in the moment, it doesn’t seem as much fun and you need to make sure you enjoy this moment,” Shanahan said. “You don’t get to do this a lot and if you sit and get consumed with what that means and where you’re at, it’s not fun and you don’t play as well. You try to get guys to just know that all that matters is that you work and try to get better. There’s going to be 31 teams at the end of this year not happy and there’s going to be one team who did it right.”
Playoff mode started two weeks ago
Sanders pointed out playoff mode began two weeks ago against the Seahawks. And the stakes were similarly high last week against Arizona, despite the Cardinals being below .500. It was imperative for the 49ers to win that game ahead of their three-game test to avoid other NFC contenders gaining ground in the standings.
A win over the Packers on Sunday would give the 49ers the tiebreaker if the two teams finish with the same record, which could lead to playing a home game in January rather than going to frigid Lambeau Field, if the 49ers hold off the Seahawks for the NFC West.
And finishing with a better record than the Saints could get Drew Brees to play outdoors rather than his preferred surroundings in the Mercedes Benz Super Dome, which also provides one of the best home field advantages in the league.
The team will travel to Baltimore the day after Thanksgiving, then go to Florida to practice before the Saints game.
“Kyle kind of talked about it, where there’s two different kinds of players,” fullback Kyle Juszczyk said. “There’s a player who goes into that situation and feels the pressure and says, ‘Ooh, I don’t like that. That’s too much for me.’ And there’s the other player, ‘Shoot, I want to feel that again. I’d do anything to get back in that moment.’ We’re obviously looking for the latter. And I do think that these games will help down the line.”
The 49ers have more playoff experience on offense. Sanders has appeared in Super Bowls with the Steelers and Broncos. Left tackle Joe Staley and tight end Garrett Celek were were on Jim Harbaugh’s teams that went on long runs earlier this decade. Juszczyk played in two postseason games with the Ravens after the 2014 season, beating the Pittsburgh Steelers and losing to the New England Patriots in the divisional round.
Jimmy Garoppolo, of course, has a pair of Super Bowl rings as Tom Brady’s backup with New England. He knows what the focus is like, though he wasn’t on the field winning those games.
That’s one of the reasons the 49ers have skeptics. Garoppolo hasn’t been hardened by playoff experience like other quarterbacks on NFC contenders, like Rodgers, Brees, or Russell Wilson, who all have Super Bowl victories on their resumes.
Though perhaps the next three weeks could provide a look into what those situations are like.
“We know what time of the year we’re in,” right tackle Mike McGlinchey said. “And we know that if we can get to where we want to go, this is the test we have to pass.”