Obviously, the one seed is what the 49ers are aspiring for. It gets you a bye week, and the team that may want a bye week the most is the 49ers. If they can get a little more rested for some of their injured defenders and Ricky Pearsall, it would go a long way. They draw the bottom seed the rest of the way, which helps as well.

No. 6 seed in the NFC playoff race during their Week 14 bye as key results around the conference shake up the postseason picture.

San Francisco gets to No. 6 no matter how this game finishes. The 49ers would move ahead of the 8-4-1 Packers if Chicago wins. They'd jump over the No. 7 seed 9-4 Bears to No. 6 if Green Bay wins. A loss from one of the Seahawks or Rams would push the 49ers up to No. 5, ahead of the NFC West team that lost and ahead of the loser of Packers-Bears.

The talk all off-season was that the 49ers play the worst division in football, but the NFC and the AFC South are ahead of the AFC North and NFC East in the standings. Before the year, you would have thought that the Ravens and Bengals would be much tougher than the Jaguars and Colts, but the records say differently.

Despite the missed opportunity to gain ground, the 49ers improved to 10-4 and remain firmly in the playoff hunt with three games left on the schedule. San Francisco will travel to face the Indianapolis Colts in Week 16 before closing the regular season with home games against the Chicago Bears and the Seahawks.

The Dolphins waived Matthew Judon on Dec. 17. Here’s why 49ers fans are buzzing about a waiver claim—and what could block it. The post 49ers Linked to 4-Time Pro Bowl Edge Rusher After Surprising Release appeared first on Heavy Sports.