The San Francisco 49ers won their first division title since 2002, a surprising drought for a team that won the NFC West 13 times between 1981 and 1997.
With Sunday”s shutout victory over the St. Louis Rams, the 49ers guaranteed their first playoff appearance in nearly a decade.
But the team (and hard-nosed head coach Jim Harbaugh) no doubt has its sights set beyond mid-January; San Francisco still wants to be playing football once early February hits.
And the 49ers certainly appear poised for a deep postseason run.
They currently lead the NFL in rushing defense, points allowed and turnover differential, rank second in point differential and overall record, and have the seventh-best rushing offense — all important stats for cold-weather success.
Of course the team has room to improve, especially on its 16th-ranked passing defense and 29th-ranked passing offense.
Still, despite inefficiency with and against the pass, the 49ers have impressive records at home (6-1) and on the road (4-1) to date.
Their upcoming schedule should provide them with the chance to improve on those shortcomings, with three of their final four regular-season games against lowly NFC West opponents.
San Francisco, already 3-0 against division foes, should have no problem winning those remaining games and assuring at least a 13-win season.
If the 49ers could somehow defeat the Pittsburgh Steelers in two weeks, they could very well find themselves with the second-best record in the NFC come season”s end.
That would give the 49ers an opening-round bye and an extra week of rest and playoff preparation.
Then again, in recent years, NFC West teams haven”t had problems winning their first postseason game, no matter when it”s played. The NFC West champion has won at least one playoff game every year since 2005.
Plus the majority of San Francisco”s potential divisional-round opponents are scrambling just to make it into the postseason — except for the red-hot New Orleans Saints.
That being said, fans shouldn”t worry about the prospect of 49ers complacency, not for a team coached by a great motivator like Harbaugh (who has done a remarkable job and appears to have the Coach of the Year honor locked up even though another guy is leading a currently undefeated team).
During the last four weeks, fans and the team need to be concerned about health and progress.
Star linebacker Patrick Willis is questionable this week with a hamstring injury. Running back Frank Gore and the wide receiving corps have been banged up at different times too.
San Francisco needs those guys to get and stay healthy while making sure other key players (like leading tackler NaVorro Bowman and top sack-man Aldon Smith) avoid the injury bug.
The 49ers also must see continued growth from quarterback Alex Smith, who has showed some life this year (but more importantly, hasn”t yet buried the team like in years past).
To succeed in the NFC playoffs, San Francisco will probably need more out of Alex Smith than his measly 199-yards-per-game average. Yes the 49ers have great rushing, but defenses will develop ways to slow it come January; that”s when the quarterback will have to step up.
Even if all of the positive trends continue, the big-name players stay healthy and the offense gets better, San Francisco will still most likely have something big, green and cheesy standing between it and the Super Bowl.
And that”s probably the biggest reason the 49ers will come up short in 2011 despite improving drastically.
The good news: the 49ers have won a lot this year and will probably get a playoff win.
The bad news: the defending-champion Green Bay Packers have won every game so far this year.
The better news: San Francisco is built to keep winning in the years to come. And Aaron Rodgers has to lose at some point, right?
Follow @JeremyDWalsh //platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
