NO GAME, STILL A WIN: 49ers Leap to the No. 6 Seed Overnight — Thanks to… the Packers?

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — While the San Francisco 49ers were sprawled on couches across the Bay Area demolishing wings and flipping through RedZone, they got the earliest Christmas gift imaginable: the No. 6 seed in the NFC playoffs without snapping a chinstrap.

One Sunday night was all it took. The Green Bay Packers crushed the Chicago Bears 34–14, officially dropping Chicago to the No. 7 wild-card spot and catapulting the 49ers into the coveted “6” line on every playoff graphic. From nervously peeking at tiebreakers to suddenly breathing easy — all it cost was a few hours of television.

“I woke up, opened the ESPN app, and we’re the sixth seed,” Nick Bosa said Monday, still laughing. “I hadn’t even brushed my teeth yet and we basically punched our playoff ticket. Shout-out to the Packers, man.”

John Lynch couldn’t hide his smirk. The 49ers GM called it the most perfect bye week he’s ever seen. “We literally didn’t have to do anything except let Green Bay handle business. Sometimes football is beautiful like that.”

The NFC West remains a bloodbath — Rams 10-3, Seahawks 9-3, 49ers 9-4 — but the No. 6 seed is massive: a home wild-card game at Levi’s Stadium against either the Bears or Commanders, two teams San Francisco already beat convincingly this year.

Kyle Shanahan didn’t let anyone get too comfortable in Monday’s team meeting. “You just got handed a gift,” he told the room. “But the wrapping paper isn’t off yet. The last four games are how we say thank you.” The schedule is brutal: Rams, Cardinals, Seahawks, Lions — three direct playoff rivals.

Still, the vibe inside the facility Monday was different. Fred Warner, rehabbing his broken ankle, fired into the team group chat: “Appreciate the Packers doing our job for us. Now it’s our turn to pay it back.”

Christian McCaffrey kept it shorter. When asked how it felt to move up without playing, CMC just shrugged: “Sitting on the couch and winning? I could get used to this.”

With the No. 6 seed in hand and the bye week giving key pieces one more week to heal, the 49ers have flipped the switch to “no excuses” mode. One more win officially clinches a postseason berth. Two more could mean a divisional-round home game.

So thank you, Green Bay Packers. Thank you, wings and cold beer. And thank you, NFL schedule gods, for the weirdest feel-good moment of the season: a team that didn’t play still walked away with the biggest W of the week.

The 49ers didn’t take a snap and still won. Now it’s time to stand up and protect that gift.