Halfway Point

[Bemular]

We are currently battling Atlanta, Chicago and the Giants for home field advantage as we are currently ranked 4th in playoff seeding.

 

[supreme_clientele81]

ok thats good to know, but how are they playing at home this season?

to me, how they're playing now is a larger factor than losing last year, and the year before. think all their home wins were clear wins?

Nope all close games at home. Blowouts have been away. Vs Broncos 27-21 Vs Panthers 30-28 (should have loss) Vs Raiders 23-20 (should have loss).

Like Sick Atlanta doesn't worry me I think we can handle them. Chicago doesn't scare me either as long as we don't turn it over. I really like our chances against either of those two teams.

 

[supreme_clientele81]

The Niners have to get ahead of the Giants. As long as they get the first round bye and at least 1 home game it will be huge.

^^^This plus if someone could knock off the Giants for us in the playoffs or they don't make it at all.

 

[tallglassofwater007]

We are currently battling Atlanta, Chicago and the Giants for home field advantage as we are currently ranked 4th in playoff seeding.

The Bears are going to lose some games though so I am not too worried about them. Atlanta is already 2 games ahead of us so I am thinking that one is going to be a long shot. But the Giants to me are not only the most dangerous team but the other team who will be fighting for the #2 seed... and I wouldn't completely rule out Green Bay but they aren't nearly as scary as NY.

 

[wartyOne]

They lost the last two years at home and they were blowout loses. Granted they lost to the eventual Super Bowl Champions

Last year was a road loss to NY.

 

[Flyingiguana]

We are currently battling Atlanta, Chicago and the Giants for home field advantage as we are currently ranked 4th in playoff seeding.

falcons will fall back to earth. cutler will choke, and the giants usually die in the 2nd half.

i think we're in good shape.

 

[yossarian]

Besides, a good defense and run game travels well in the playoffs, and Harbaugh will have them ready to play on the road.

 

[Bemular]

falcons will fall back to earth. cutler will choke, and the giants usually die in the 2nd half.

i think we're in good shape.

Falcons have one of the easiest second half schedules of all NFL teams. They are not falling anywhere.

The Bears have a very difficult second half and thus could be the team most likely to open the door.

The Giants also have a difficult back-nine but I would put money on the Bears faltering before the Giants.

We are in control of our division but securing a 1st round bye is far from a sure thing.

 

[deep9er]

Besides, a good defense and run game travels well in the playoffs, and Harbaugh will have them ready to play on the road.

yeah, i'm not concerned about competing either, no doubt we can compete with ALL NFL teams. agree we can compete home or away, but i'm sure we'd compete better with homefield advantage.

so now, was mainly projecting homefield advantage, not who is better than us.

 

[tallglassofwater007]

Falcons have one of the easiest second half schedules of all NFL teams. They are not falling anywhere.

The Bears have a very difficult second half and thus could be the team most likely to open the door.

The Giants also have a difficult back-nine but I would put money on the Bears faltering before the Giants.

We are in control of our division but securing a 1st round bye is far from a sure thing.

Are you assuming though that we win out? Cause I still think we lose a couple more games. As far as the Falcons go... they always seem to play soft in the playoffs and get beat in their own house. They scare me far less than the Giants do. The Bears will be tough in the playoffs but I actually think Green Bay is going to win that division.

 

[Bemular]

Are you assuming though that we win out? Cause I still think we lose a couple more games. As far as the Falcons go... they always seem to play soft in the playoffs and get beat in their own house. They scare me far less than the Giants do. The Bears will be tough in the playoffs but I actually think Green Bay is going to win that division.

Oh hell no, when looking at our second half schedule I see four or five tough games that could easily result in two or three losses - and one of those teams (Chicago) will have high level tie-breaking implications.

As for the playoffs I agree (Falcons), I agree (Giants), I agree (Falcons less threatening) and it's possible (GB winning the div).

 

[MHSL82]

The Bears second half includes a game against us so we can control a bit there both with giving them a loss and winning the head to head. Of course, losing to them or losing a few times makes that moot. The Packers play them again so that could help. Some would feel like we cheated fate, but it would great if we had the Packers play the Giants in the playoffs before we play one of them. We could take the Falcons/Bears and play the winner of the Packer/Giants game.

 

[Kinzu]

The Bears are still the Bears. Their D is a bit overrated right now due to the turnovers they've been getting. Their offense is woefully inconsistent and probably always will be with Cutler. We can take Forte out of the game and force Cutler to make to many passes. Cutler having to throw on nearly every down is 3+ turnovers just waiting to happen.

The Falcons worry me a bit because their passing attack is so explosive this year. It's game our Offense would have to be on cue for to keep drives going so we win the Possession battle.

The Giants just flat out scare me. Eli has gone from the most overrated QB in the league to maybe the most underrated the last 2-3 years. When their Defense shows up to play they are tough to beat.

 

[Bemular]

The Bears are still the Bears. Their D is a bit overrated right now due to the turnovers they've been getting. Their offense is woefully inconsistent and probably always will be with Cutler. We can take Forte out of the game and force Cutler to make to many passes. Cutler having to throw on nearly every down is 3+ turnovers just waiting to happen.

The Falcons worry me a bit because their passing attack is so explosive this year. It's game our Offense would have to be on cue for to keep drives going so we win the Possession battle.

The Giants just flat out scare me. Eli has gone from the most overrated QB in the league to maybe the most underrated the last 2-3 years. When their Defense shows up to play they are tough to beat.

Great post but the bold is profound!

 

[Jikkle]

The Falcon's run defense sucks and that would play right into our hands if we match up against them.

The Bear's offensive line sucks and that will be their ultimate downfall

The Giant's are the scariest team out of them all because if Eli is on his game it's almost impossible to stop him and with their defensive line they can get pass rush without blitzing. They are beatable as we've seen the past two weeks but they would be the last time I would want to see in the playoffs.

 

[h0ckeysk83r]

Am I the only one not scared of the giants?

We beat them in the reg season and barely lost in the NFC game which easily could of gone our way. Just because they beat us pretty good this yr doesn't mean nothing to me. If we rematch them in the playoffs regardless of location I'm confident we can handle them.

 

[Yadahell]

I don't want the 49ers to play the Giants or Packers. Both would be winnable, but scary games. I would feel better playing ATL or Chicago, because they both have larger weaknesses and their QB's aren't quite elite (although Ryan is looking elite so far this year). Chicago's offensive line will be their downfall in a close game and Atlanta has shit the bed in the playoffs the last 2 years.

 

[Jtymer49er]

Through 8 games the early fortunes of the NFCW have evaporated for all but the 9ers. The Rams have a losing record and dropped the last three, including embarrassing losses against a mediocre AFC team, and a double-digit home loss to the Packers.

The Cardinals and Seahawks still have statistical powerhouse defenses. Arz ranks fourth in points allowed, Sea ranks third. SF is first, for anybody who doesn't know. Yards per game, 9ers - 1, Hawks - 5, Cards - 6. Ironically, with those defensive backs, Seattle ranks 13 against the pass, while the 9ers are 2nd, and the Cards are 4th. The Rams are middle of the pack in yards and points per game.

Despite all of that, Arz and Sea are now at .500. Yards per game on offense features the 9ers at 11. That's the best of the bunch. St. Louis comes in second ranked 28. Passing in this division is a joke. A bad one. Arizona, despite having Larry Fitzgerald, is ranked 24th passing the ball, and they rank first in the division. St. Louis comes in second at 25, SF comes in third at 28 (not surprisingly; our 11th rated ypg is bolstered by our top of the league rushing game), and Seattle ranks 31.

In Points for, we lead the division at 15. Seattle is at 27, St. Louis is at 30, and Arz is at 31.

Lots of defense, but pretty shoddy offense with the exception of our running game (Seattle's ranks 8th).

Why is this important? Because the last dominant defense to win the SB with an incompetent offense was the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and that's not the recent trend. I firmly believe that unless our defense/ST's scores 14 points, we're not beating a team like the Giants/Falcons/Bears in the playoffs. We simply have to be better on offense, or the games that matter are going to look like the Minnesota/NYG games this year. Settling for "Well, we didn't turn it over" isn't going to be good enough against an offense that can move the ball against us (all playoff teams).

I think the rest of the division teams are starting to show their true colors.

Okay, having dropped the negative-Nancy routine, I will say this. There is plenty of time to get us on track. But we have to be better at converting 3rd downs and getting TD's instead of settling for FG's.

The Patriots won 3 super bowls with an offense like ours. They won by playing D. They have not won a super bowl since they became a offensive team. The Steelers also won a super bowl by playing D when Big Ben was a rookie.

We can absolutly win the super bowl this year, playing this way!

 

[NinerSickness]

The Patriots won 3 super bowls with an offense like ours. They won by playing D. They have not won a super bowl since they became a offensive team. The Steelers also won a super bowl by playing D when Big Ben was a rookie.

The '03 & '04 Pats had a pretty good offense actually. It didn't hurt that they were cheating though (as w/ 2001).

And Ben won his 2nd year, not his rookie year.

 

[Jtymer49er]

The '03 & '04 Pats had a pretty good offense actually. It didn't hurt that they were cheating though (as w/ 2001).

And Ben won his 2nd year, not his rookie year.

Either way their offense was not much better than ours.