For a team that’s 12-4 and locked up the NFC West more than two weeks ago, the 49ers still have a bit to play for on Sunday.
A win and a Philadelphia Eagles loss (unlikely given the New York Giants are expected to rest key starters with the 6th seed cemented) would make them the No. 1 seed. A win with an Eagles win would secure the No. 2 seed. And a loss with a Minnesota Vikings win would drop the 49ers to the No. 3 seed.
There is a solid argument to be made that the No. 3 seed is more favorable, against the Giants, than a matchup against either the Seattle Seahawks, Detroit Lions or Green Bay Packers.
But the top seed is still in play, and the 49ers would reach a 10th-straight win with a victory Sunday.
Maybe as important, from their standpoint, is to correct some defensive issues that arose against the Las Vegas Raiders in the team’s worst defense performance since the Kansas City loss.
They’ll also get the opportunity to return some key players and potentially ease the burden on others.
It’s a situation which allows the 49ers to get work for who they need to.
General Manager John Lynch joined KNBR on Friday morning, offering a better idea of who might be involved on Sunday.
The obvious names are Deebo Samuel and Elijah Mitchell. Samuel sustained knee and ankle injuries against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Mitchell has been recovering from a second MCL sprain this season.
Lynch was clearly encouraged on both.
“We’ve been doing a great job, our rehab folks, of getting him up to speed,” Lynch said. “His conditioning level is high. He’s practiced this week. Barring any setback, we expect to see him out there. For how many carries and all that? I don’t think we’ve really nailed that down, but we’ll have somewhat of a pitch count of how many touches we want to get him. This is an important game. We want to go win. There’s a lot of reasons to go win and Elijah’s a big part of that. He’s a really good football player and we’re really pleased to have him back.”
Mitchell is still technically on injured reserve, but will be activated before Sunday, as Kyle Shanahan confirmed on Thursday.
As for Deebo Samuel, it’s pretty similar.
“Much like Elijah, he’s practiced both days this week,” Lynch said. “Both days, Wednesday, Thursday, in our work week. He’s looking good out there. We got to finish this week and make sure he responds well, but all indications are Deebo’s in a real good place… Yeah, I’d say right now, I expect him to be out there.”
With Mitchell returning and two rookies in Jordan Mason and Ty Davis-Price who could benefit from opportunities, it begs the question as to what sort of load Christian McCaffrey will shoulder.
McCaffrey has been managing knee irritation for multiple weeks and suffered a mildly sprained ankle this past weekend.
Lynch indicated the 49ers will play him if he’s healthy, but that it may not be near the workload he’s seen in recent weeks.
“If he’s not right, we won’t have him out there,” Lynch said. “He’s had a high workload here of late. We want him right for the playoffs. But first he’s just got to be right. But if he’s healthy, he’ll play and we’ll see where that goes.”
His final update was on Dre Greenlaw, who Shanahan said this week had a strained back.
Greenlaw took an incidental hit to the back by Fred Warner, but looked to avoid the worst-case scneario.
“I think we avoided anything real significant with Dre,” Lynch said. “But man, if you saw the impact of that hit, guys hustling to the football, Fred kind of landed on him and he got bent in a way your body shouldn’t be bent, but fortunately, everything’s checking out. But there’s a lot of soreness that came with that. So we’ll see on Dre. Again with him we’ll make a good decision as to what’s best for him and for our team.”
The 49ers host the Arizona Cardinals at 1:25 on Sunday in the season finale.
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