San Francisco 49ers: Can Kyle Shanahan’s banged-up squad nonetheless make the playoffs after stuttering 5-6 begin?

The San Francisco 49ers have been to 2 Tremendous Bowls within the final 5 seasons, and two NFC Championship video games in two of the opposite three, however this 12 months they’re in peril of lacking the playoffs altogether.

San Francisco sit at 5-6 by way of 12 weeks, their newest loss a 38-10 hammering on the Inexperienced Bay Packers when with out their beginning quarterback Brock Purdy.

Purdy’s shoulder damage was the most recent in an extended line of them for the banged-up Niners, with key contributors Nick Bosa, Trent Williams, Christian McCaffrey, George Kittle and Deebo Samuel all sidelined at numerous factors by way of the season, and No 1 receiver Brandon Aiyuk out for the 12 months.

Regardless of all this, the 49ers sit only one win exterior of first place of their division, with the Seattle Seahawks (6-5), Arizona Cardinals (6-5), Los Angeles Rams (5-6) and San Francisco all bunched up collectively battling it out for doubtlessly simply the one postseason berth.

Might or not it’s the 49ers, who subsequent head into Buffalo to tackle the 9-2 Payments on Sunday Night time Soccer – reside on Sky Sports activities NFL from 1.20am, Monday – that finally prevail from the pack?

Neil Reynolds, Jeff Reinebold and Phoebe Schecter from the the Inside The Huddle Podcast gave their ideas…

‘The stuffing has been knocked out of the Niners’

Sky Sports activities’ Neil Reynolds: “The Niners are 5-6 and heading to the 9-2 Payments, who’re coming off their bye week. It appears like these groups are on two very completely different paths proper now.

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“There was a shot of Kyle Shanahan [during the loss in Green Bay], he looked so stressed, like he’s aged this year.

“And I used to be watching the sport pondering, ‘The place’s Fred Warner?’ He has so many video games the place he screams on your consideration, and that is as a result of I feel a lot of his recreation is led by his intelligence, but additionally by depth. I simply really feel just like the stuffing has been knocked out of the 49ers proper now.

“It felt just like the lack of Brock Purdy was the final straw. It was a extremely unhealthy evening for the Niners, their physique language and the best way they performed would have been alarming.

“But they’re still in it… Seattle, at the top of that division at 6-5, there’s not anything between those teams, really.

“They’ve simply received to hold in there, try to recover from the road, and as soon as they’re in, we all know that their weapons are harmful.”

‘Too early to write the 49ers’ obituary’

Sky Sports’ Jeff Reinebold: “I feel it is too early to write down their obituary, however actually this crew has received to get wholesome, primary.

“You look at that laundry list of players that they’ve got out, and you’re talking about significant contributors. Trent Williams gone, Nick Bosa gone – you go right through the whole team.

“If it doesn’t slip away from them, if they don’t go on a bad streak until they get healthy, they’ve got a chance.

“George Kittle, to me, give me Kittle for the very best tight finish within the league proper now. I simply assume he is one thing, he retains making play after play.

“And that division, you look at the 49ers, the Rams, the Seahawks and the Cardinals, it’s anybody’s game still, anybody’s race – plus, they all have to play each other down the stretch.

“I feel it is going to be the crew that will get wholesome and will get sizzling on the finish that may go into the playoffs.”

‘McCaffrey not as explosive as we’d hoped’

Sky Sports’ Phoebe Schecter: “I do not know the place you place the 49ers proper now. We have stated a few instances that they are actually in the course of the pack when it comes to what they’re doing.

“Even Christian McCaffrey, he’s not as explosive as we hoped he would be. You add a kind of lingering Achilles issue into the mix, in the cold of Buffalo, I just don’t have faith that he’s going to be able to break off some really big runs. And that’s almost what they’ve been relying on as a team.

“I feel the Payments, particularly popping out their bye week, are in a significantly better place proper now – particularly being at dwelling, for what may very well be a snow recreation. All of these elements and variables actually favour the Payments.”

Watch the Pittsburgh Steelers in opposition to the Cincinnati Bengals from 6pm reside on Sky Sports activities NFL on Sunday, adopted by the Philadelphia Eagles in opposition to the Baltimore Ravens and the Buffalo Payments versus the San Francisco 49ers