Tag: NFL Standings

NFL standings: 49ers back out of playoff picture after Week 7 action

The 49ers are in a bad spot when it comes to the playoff hunt.

What a difference a week makes.

The San Francisco 49ers were riding high after a Week 6 road win over the Seattle Seahawks that launched them from the No. 14 seed in the NFC to the No. 4 seed thanks to their new lead in the NFC West.

Then came Week 7.

In Week 7 not only did the 49ers lose, they were the only NFC West team that didn’t win. Instead of sitting atop the division and holding onto a playoff spot, San Francisco now finds itself in survival mode just trying to get back into the playoff picture.

Seattle leads the NFC West at 4-3. The Arizona Cardinals are in second place at 3-4 thanks to their head-to-head tiebreaker over the 3-4 49ers.

It’s imperative to note there are still 11 weeks of football to go and the NFC West doesn’t have a dominant force the 49ers can’t overcome. However, there are a slew of teams ahead of San Francisco that are just playing better football through seven weeks.

The No. 1 seed Detroit Lions have hit their stride, as has virtually the entire NFC North. Minnesota, Green Bay and Chicago hold seed Nos. 5-7 to round out the playoff picture. Washington is the No. 2 seed and looks unstoppable on offense. NFC West leader Seattle is in the No. 3 spot, and the Falcons are the No. 4 seed as the NFC South leaders.

We can scrap thoughts of the No. 1 seed for the 49ers. It feels out of reach even if San Francisco wins out. They just need to start stringing together some wins to get back into the playoff picture to begin with and separating themselves from some of the NFC’s bottom dwellers.

Once they do that we can start to worry about seeding. For now, they just need to get into that conversation.

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NFL standings 2024: Bills were only AFC East team to win in Week 7

The Bills are already at five wins while no other team in the AFC East has a third win yet.

The Buffalo Bills added another game to their lead in the AFC East on Sunday.

With a 34-10 blowout of the Tennessee Titans, the Bills improved to 5-2 on the year. No other team in the division has even three wins yet. While the Miami Dolphins fell to 2-4 on the year with a 16-10 loss against the Indianapolis Colts, they’re still second place in the division after the New York Jets lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday night, 37-15.

The other team in the division, the New England Patriots, dropped a sixth straight game, losing 32-16 in London against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Here’s what the AFC East standings look like with 11 weeks left to play:

  1. Buffalo Bills: 5-2 (2-0 vs. division, 4-2 vs. AFC)
  2. Miami Dolphins: 2-4 (1-1 vs. division, 2-2 vs. AFC)
  3. New York Jets: 2-5 (1-1 vs. division, 2-4 vs. AFC)
  4. New England Patriots: 1-6 (0-2 vs. division, 1-4 vs. AFC)

The Jets and Patriots will meet in Week 8, while the Bills will travel to face the Seattle Seahawks and the Dolphins will host the Arizona Cardinals.

With a pair of Monday Night Football games on the way, the three wild card berths in the AFC currently belong to the 4-2 Baltimore Ravens, 3-2 Los Angeles Chargers, and 4-3 Indianapolis Colts with the 4-3 Denver Broncos on the outside looking in.

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NFL standings, Week 6: Dolphins slide up to second in AFC East

The Miami Dolphins had the weekend off, but still ended up improving their position in the AFC East.

The Miami Dolphins had the weekend off, but still ended up improving their position in the AFC East.

On Monday night, the Buffalo Bills escaped with a 23-20 win in a hard fought game against the New York Jets. While the win for the Bills improved their record and made the Dolphins’ chances at earning a division title a little bit tougher, it was a third consecutive loss for New York.

With the New England Patriots also picking up a Week 6 loss, the AFC East standings now look like this:

  1. Buffalo Bills: 4-2 (2-0 in AFC East)
  2. Miami Dolphins: 2-3 (1-1 in AFC East)
  3. New York Jets: 2-4 (1-1 in AFC East)
  4. New England Patriots: 1-5 (0-2 in AFC East)

Of course, the Dolphins’ chances at making the playoffs rest on their ability to bounce back from a rough start to the year. Miami has a relatively easy slate of opponents to finish the season, but there’s another matchup with Buffalo coming in Week 9 and a pair of battles against the Jets in Weeks 14 and 18.

For now, though, the Dolphins are back in second place in the AFC East — exactly where they’ve finished in five of the last eight seasons.

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How the 49ers got a win without playing Sunday of Week 6

The 49ers didn’t play Sunday, but they managed to find a win thanks to the Packers.

The San Francisco 49ers got to kick their feet up Sunday after playing Thursday night to kick off Week 6 of the regular season.

Despite not suiting up while most of the rest of the NFL was in action, the 49ers still managed to find a win via the Green Bay Packers.

Green Bay blew out the Arizona Cardinals 34-13 at Lambeau Field on Sunday morning West Coast time. That dropped the Cardinals to 2-4 and ensured the 49ers would enter Week 7 with the lead in the NFC West.

Had the Cardinals won, they would’ve been 3-3 and tied with the 49ers and Seahawks. By way of tiebreakers the 49ers would have been knocked out of the top of the division. Instead, the 49ers will be in first since they’re tied with the Seahawks and hold the head-to-head tiebreaker thanks to their Thursday night victory at Lumen Field in Seattle.

Here is what the division standings look like after Sunday’s action:

1. 49ers (3-3)
2. Seahawks (3-3)
3. Cardinals (2-4)
4. Rams (1-4)

The Rams were idle with a Week 6 bye, so they didn’t get a chance to keep up with the rest of the division.

Leading the division by tiebreaker isn’t where the 49ers want to be after six weeks. It’s certainly better than where they were entering the week — a third-place team in desperate need of a victory.

They still need to start stringing together wins, but they’ve now put themselves in position to play from ahead. They control their own destiny starting Week 7 against the Kansas City Chiefs at home.

Thanks to Week 6’s results, if the 49ers start playing better football, they’ll be able to separate themselves from the rest of the division and turn their sights toward the No. 1 seed in the NFC.

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49ers win over Seahawks puts them in 1st place NFC West

The San Francisco 49ers are your new division leader.

What a difference a win makes!

The San Francisco 49ers were in an apparent spiral entering their game against the Seattle Seahawks on Thursday night. They’d lost three straight, including two to division opponents where San Francisco held 10-point leads in the fourth quarter, and they sat at 14th out of 16 in the NFC standings.

A win was a necessity at Lumen Field, and the 49ers came through even with some bumps in the road.

While San Francisco needed a win for some stability early in this season, they also had an opportunity to leap into the playoff picture by overtaking the Seahawks in the NFC West.

The 49ers’ 36-24 victory over Seattle launched them into a tie with the Seahawks at 3-3 overall, but placed San Francisco at No. 1 in the division by virtue of the head-to-head tiebreaker they now hold over the Seahawks.

Here’s what the standings look like entering Sunday:

1. 49ers (3-3)
2. Seahawks (3-3)
3. Cardinals (2-3)
4. Rams (1-4)

It’s still too early to start schedule-watching, but the 49ers’ margin for error is slim enough that any ground they can make up in the race for a playoff berth is significant.

The Cardinals do play the Packers on Sunday in Green Bay. A win by them would push the 49ers down to second in the standings. A loss would ensure San Francisco holds the NFC West lead heading into Week 7.

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49ers Super Bowl hopes may ride on Week 6 vs. Seahawks

The 49ers season isn’t over if they lose, but it’s awful close.

Multiple members of the San Francisco 49ers have acknowledged the stakes of their Thursday night showdown with the Seattle Seahawks.

Cornerback Deommodore Lenoir said the team is treating it like a must-win game. Defensive end Nick Bosa echoed those sentiments. Linebacker Fred Warner didn’t mince words when he talked about what’s on the line for the 49ers on Thursday at Lumen Field.

It sounds melodramatic given that the club is only entering Week 6, and that a large swath of the roster’s key players were on the roster just three seasons ago when they got off to a 3-5 start.

This year is different, though, and the uptick urgency is being reflected by players in media settings.

It is true that a loss Thursday, which drops the 49ers to 2-4 overall, 0-3 in the NFC West and 0-4 in the NFC, wouldn’t end their season. They could mathematically win 11 straight games to go 13-4.

That’s an unrealistic expectation, which brings the ‘must-win’ phrasing into the picture.

San Francisco has Super Bowl aspirations. In the era of the 14-team playoff where only the No. 1 seed gets a bye week, that No. 1 seed is crucial. The advanced age of the 49ers’ roster and the spate of extra games they’ve played over the last five years because of four deep playoff runs makes the bye week an even greater necessity.

Their margin for error on potentially securing a No. 1 seed was ostensibly lit on fire when the team blew 10-point fourth-quarter leads against the Los Angeles Rams and Arizona Cardinals. They need to start racking up wins, and it has to start Thursday in Seattle, especially with dates against the Kansas City Chiefs and Dallas Cowboys looming.

If the 49ers win Thursday, things will feel more stable for them heading into their final two games before their bye.

If the 49ers lose Thursday, the one seed, and with it a potential Super Bowl run, may fall entirely out of reach.

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NFC standings: Week 6 vs. Seahawks is virtual ‘must win’ for 49ers

Week 6 is basically a must-win for the 49ers, and the standings show why.

The NFL standings don’t generally matter much after five weeks.

In an 18-week season injuries are prevalent, trades happen, and teams either hit their stride or fall off throughout the year, and the picture painted with the final standings rarely reflects what we see after a sample size of five games.

On the other hand, this year’s standings in the NFC put into perspective just how poorly the San Francisco 49ers’ season has gone, and the climb they have to get back into the postseason picture.

San Francisco after five weeks is sitting at No. 14 out of 16 NFC teams. The only teams behind them are the Los Angeles Rams and Carolina Panthers. Both of those teams are 1-4, and the Rams’ lone win came against the 49ers at SoFi Stadium in Week 3.

It’s been an abject disaster to start the year for the 49ers, and while the standings paint a bleak picture now, there are some silver linings.

Typically under Kyle Shanahan the 49ers have played their best football in November, December and January. They’re one of five NFC teams with two wins, and a win over the Seattle Seahawks on Thursday night would put them atop the NFC West and into the No. 4 seed in the standings. That fact is why there’s no reason to hit the panic button just yet.

On the other hand, a loss to Seattle might be reason to panic. Dropping to 2-4 overall, 0-4 in the conference and 0-3 in the division with games against the undefeated Chiefs and the 3-2 Cowboys looming would put the 49ers in a bind that virtually eliminated their margin for error while they simultaneously try and right a rapidly sinking ship.

The standings through five weeks don’t tell the story of the entire season, but they paint a pretty clear picture of what’s at stake for the 49ers when they visit Seattle on Thursday.

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How many teams have made the playoffs after starting 1-4?

It’s not surprising that very few teams have gone on to make the playoffs after starting a season 1-4

The Los Angeles Rams dug themselves a hole early in the season by starting 0-2, losing a heartbreaker to the Detroit Lions and then a 41-10 blowout to the Arizona Cardinals. They got back on track by beating the San Francisco 49ers but after dropping their last two games, they’re now 1-4 entering their Week 6 bye.

Their playoff odds plummeted after their 0-2 start, with only 9.8% of teams making the postseason since 1970 after losing their first two games, and they’re in an even worse situation now.

Historically, very few teams go on to make the playoffs after starting 1-4, which is hardly a surprise. Going back to 1970, 253 teams have opened a season at 1-4. Only 15 of those ended up making the postseason, with the last team being Washington in 2020. That was the first year the playoffs expanded to 14 teams.

That means only 5.9% of teams have made the playoffs after such a terrible start, none since the schedule was lengthened to 17 games in 2021. Those are the long odds the Rams now face with 12 games remaining.

They did overcome a 3-6 start last season to make the playoffs and they nearly beat the Lions in the wild-card round, but this year’s team doesn’t seem as capable of making such a run with all the injuries it has suffered.

After their Week 6 bye, the Rams will face the Raiders, Vikings, Seahawks and Dolphins in their next four games. If they don’t go at least 3-1 in that stretch, their playoff hopes will be on life support.

NFL standings, Week 5: Dolphins only AFC East team to win Sunday

The Dolphins made up ground in the AFC East in Week 5 with all of their division rivals picking up losses Sunday.

The Miami Dolphins were the only AFC East team to get a win in Week 5, breathing some life into their season after a disastrous September.

Early Sunday morning, the New York Jets lost to the Minnesota Vikings, 23-17, in London. Aaron Rodgers threw three interceptions in the loss, including a game-sealing one with less than a minute left in the fourth quarter.

Then in the afternoon, the Dolphins snapped their three-game losing streak by scoring 12 unanswered to beat the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium.

The cherry on top for Miami was the Houston Texans’ Ka’imi Fairbairn hitting a 59-yard field goal as time expired to give his team a 23-20 win against the Buffalo Bills.

With the rough day for the Dolphins’ division rivals, here’s what the AFC East standings look like after Week 5:

  1. Buffalo Bills: 3-2 (1-0 vs. AFC East)
  2. New York Jets: 2-3 (1-0 vs. AFC East)
  3. Miami Dolphins: 2-3 (1-1 vs. AFC East)
  4. New England Patriots: 1-4 (0-2 vs. AFC East)

Next week, the Bills and Jets will meet for a Monday Night Football matchup with first place in the AFC East on the line. The Dolphins will watch from home during their bye week and could slide into second if the Bills get the win, although a third loss for Buffalo may be the better outcome for Miami in the long run.

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49ers climb in NFC West standings with 2 huge division games looming

The 49ers gained a game on every team in the NFC West this week.

Week 4 was a big one for the San Francisco 49ers as they aimed to end a two-game losing skid and keep up in the NFC West.

Not only did the 49ers dominate their matchup with the New England Patriots 30-13, they were also the team in the division to notch a win in Week 4.

The Los Angeles Rams got dropped by the Chicago Bears 24-18 at Soldier Field on Sunday morning. Then the Arizona Cardinals got walloped 42-14 at home by the Washington Commanders. Monday night the Seattle Seahawks fell 42-29 to the Lions in a shootout at Ford Field in Detroit.

San Francisco entered the week tied with the Rams and Cardinals at the bottom of the division. Now they’ve gained some separation and picked up a game on the Seahawks.

Here’s what the NFC West standings look like with four weeks down:

1. Seattle Seahawks (3-1)
2. San Francisco 49ers (2-2)
3. Arizona Cardinals (1-3)
4. Los Angeles Rams (1-3)

Week 5 marks the start of a massive stretch for the 49ers in the division race. They’ll host the Cardinals on Sunday before hitting a quick turnaround and flying to face the Seahawks on Thursday Night Football.

Getting back on track with a win was big for the 49ers, and now they go into a portion of their schedule where they can really make ground in the division and re-assert themselves as the team to beat.

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