As they prepare for their upcoming matchup, attention has shifted not only to the playoff race in the NFC West but also to the presence of veteran quarterback Philip Rivers on the other sideline, a player whose return to the field has drawn admiration from both Brock Purdy and Kyle Shanahan.

The NFC West now officially has a team in the postseason. The Los Angeles Rams clinched a postseason berth with their 41-34 win over the Detroit Lions. However, their lead in the NFC West has not changed. They are still in first place in the division but have the same record as the second-place Seattle Seahawks.

If these two things happen, the 49ers would finish 13-4 and win the NFC West over a 13-4 Rams team based on the division record tiebreaker. If the Seahawks also finish 13-4 in this scenario, the 49ers would have swept them, so they'd win any tiebreaker with Seattle. At 7-to-1 odds to win the NFC West, the 49ers feel like a steal.

The teams that are essentially already playing in the postseason all emerged victorious in Week 15. They did so with varying degrees of success, but the end results were what they needed to be. And then,

The Seahawks’ chances at the one seed are greatly impacted by the outcome of the 49ers game on Monday Night Football.