The San Francisco 49ers clinched a playoff berth before their Week 16 Monday Night Football matchup against the Indianapolis Colts. San Francisco secured a spot in the postseason with the Detroit Lions’ loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday. And despite overcoming numerous injuries in an impressive campaign, Kyle Shanahan refrained from talking to his team about the playoffs. Until Sunday night.
“Last night was the first time I mentioned anything about that just because we got into the playoffs last night. I told them all year I didn’t want to talk about that. But last night we got in, so I was able to talk about that,” Shanahan said after the 49ers’ 48-27 MNF win, per Coach Yac.
“Every time we’ve gone to OTAs it’s been all about trying to get to a Super Bowl, trying to win a Super Bowl. And I wanted to make sure that we didn’t really talk that way this year. I wanted to focus on just trying to be the best team we could be and we’ll see what happens. That’s kind of been our motto all year,” the veteran coach added.
The 49ers take aim at the No. 1 seed in the NFC
Shanahan’s method worked. After finishing 6-11 in 2024, San Francisco rebounded this season to reach the playoffs. And the 49ers have a shot at the No. 1 seed in the NFC.
Thanks to the Seattle Seahawks’ win over the Los Angeles Rams, San Francisco controls its own destiny. If the Niners win their final two games, both of which are at home, they’ll finish with the top seed in the conference. The 49ers play the Chicago Bears in Week 17 before a pivotal divisional clash with the Seahawks in the season finale.
“I was just so proud that I actually now, last night, could congratulate them and talk about the playoffs because they got in there. Now it’s time to position ourselves to try and do something special,” Shanahan said. ‘I’d love to try to play a home game at Levis and we knew the only way to do that was to win tonight versus the Colts. And we got that done and now we got to look to do that against Chicago.”
