The 49ers’ climb through the NFL Wire power rankings has been a strong indicator of their season. From the middle of the pack to a shot up to No. 1, and now sitting at No. 4 heading into Week 17, the 49ers have proven themselves worthy of the title of Super Bowl contender.
That’s ostensibly what being a top-four team is in power rankings, especially when Nos. 1 and 3 are AFC teams, and the No. 2 team is an NFC team. Seattle, the 49ers’ Week 17 opponent, fell to No. 6 after a dreary home loss to the Cardinals.
The 49ers were sitting at No. 5, and a Week 15 home loss to the Falcons looked like it might doom their chances to finish any higher than No. 5 given how well the teams ahead of them were playing.
Now San Francisco gets on last chance to prove themselves in the regular season. Not that they’ve failed to prove they can hang with any team in the league, but snagging a road win against a division rival to close the season and sew up the NFC West would be a strong validation of everything the 49ers have put on tape to this point.
A win in the final week would put the 49ers into the No. 1 seed in the NFC, and would make it difficult to justify having them behind anyone but the Ravens in the final power rankings.
Ultimately power rankings are a fun exercise to get a snapshot of the NFL hierarchy on a week-by-week basis. Any team that makes the playoffs has a shot at a championship regardless of how the rankings shake out.
However, for the 49ers to climb higher than fourth to end the season, it would mean knocking off the Seahawks in Seattle for the first time since 2011.