There is a jarring reality for the San Francisco 49ers hidden in a 2025 NFL season prediction that doesn’t even involve them.
Pro Football and Sports Network released its full 2025 NFL playoff predictions with matchups and winners from each round. It’s not a huge surprise the 49ers aren’t in the Super Bowl mix, but they’re not even in the postseason in this prediction. Additionally, they finish at least third in the NFC West again with the Arizona Cardinals snagging a wild card spot and the Los Angeles Rams securing their second-consecutive NFC West championship.
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The validity or ultimate correctness of the predictions here matter less than the rapidly declining perception of the 49ers.
Optimism reigns for most teams this time of year. There’s good reason for it, too, with the 49ers. They’ve added a ton of young talent. They got their contract extensions out of the way well before training camp. They’re relatively healthy. Those are all good signs for a team to bounce back after a dreary 6-11 campaign.
On the other hand, they still went 6-11 last year and much of their hope for the 2025 season rests on the shoulders of players who have never played a snap in the NFL. Not to mention question marks lingering over wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk and his knee injury, and running back Christian McCaffrey as he comes back from missing 13 games last year with Achilles and knee issues.
Expectations for the 49ers are still going to be high among the fan base going into the 2025 season. They had a down year in 2020 and went back to the NFC championship game in 2021. There’s some reason for optimism that they can do the same thing again after a down year in 2024.
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There are a lot of things that need to go right for them in 2025 to have a 2021-style bounce-back. They’ll need to have things go right just to make the postseason. While one prediction doesn’t paint the entire picture of the perception of the 49ers, it provides a reminder that another faceplant season is very much on the table. And if that happens, it may be difficult for head coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch to right the ship.
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This article originally appeared on Niners Wire: NFL playoff predictions highlight rapid demise of San Francisco 49ers
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