The 49ers have plenty to play for in Week 16 when they host the Baltimore Ravens on Monday Night Football. San Francisco can seal up the No. 1 seed in the NFC with wins in its next two games. However, they can also help play a little spoiler for the Ravens.
Baltimore is the No. 1 seed in the AFC, but they’ve yet to clinch a playoff spot. They can do so Sunday with a win and a Browns loss to the Texans. That means there’s a chance the 49ers could keep Baltimore from clinching a postseason berth.
The 49ers would also ding the Ravens’ hopes for the No. 1 seed in the AFC. Baltimore is a game up in Miami and two games up on Kansas City. With a game coming up vs. the Dolphins, the Ravens will want to have as much clearance as possible from Miami to avoid that game becoming the deciding factor in the hunt for the top seed.
Baltimore can’t play the same level of spoiler for the 49ers from a clinching standpoint, but they can certainly make the path to the NFC’s top seed more difficult by beating San Francisco.
So why does any of this matter?
Because there’s a very good chance that the 49ers and Ravens are the two best teams in the league and that the rest of this season is just a collision course toward a Super Bowl showdown between then. In that event, both teams will want to ensure that path to Las Vegas is as difficult as possible. Playing spoiler in Week 16 could wind up being the difference in which team hoists the Lombardi Trophy.
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