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00:00Yeah, we wanted to start with some football, some Niners.
00:02The Eagles lose again last night.
00:04And here we are sort of, I think, all recalibrating a little bit
00:10with regard to our hopes, our thoughts, our dreams, our expectations for the Niners.
00:16I do want to start with this, though, just because Stiney just left the room.
00:20And I wonder, both your perspective, we would love to hear from all of you.
00:25Call in, text in, whatever, 888-957-9570.
00:30Does the schedule still feel like a joke to you?
00:33That was the whole offseason, remember?
00:37Oh, my God, with this schedule.
00:39And then I feel like it evened out because the Niners lost key players.
00:44And so instead of sort of feeling like the Niners just caught a huge break with the schedule,
00:50we started feeling sorry for them.
00:51But then somehow, even without those players, they're 9-4.
00:55And so now we're leaning back to that schedule again.
00:58Oh, man.
00:58Yeah, that's, is Kyle Shanahan doing a great job?
01:02Okay, maybe.
01:03He's doing a good job, but it's that schedule.
01:05And I'm looking deep as I can.
01:08I'm no dibs.
01:09But I'm looking as deep as I can into all these analytics.
01:13Sure, they've had some bad teams on the schedule.
01:15You can't escape that.
01:17But is it a joke?
01:18Is this as easy of a schedule as we thought it was going to be?
01:21No, it's harder than what we thought it would be.
01:24And I looked at last year's records and going into the year, the teams that they were going to face had a winning percentage of about 4-10 from last year going into this year.
01:34And so you look at it and you go, oh, my God, schedule's a joke.
01:36Well, the Rams and Seahawks, which is 4 of your 17, they are a combined 20-6.
01:43And I know you haven't played Seattle twice, but you will.
01:46And so that part of the schedule, wow, they're much better.
01:50And whatever, Tampa, Tampa is Tampa.
01:53Carolina's better.
01:55Atlanta and New Orleans are the dregs.
01:57And we get that.
01:58But then you go to Chicago.
02:00They're 9-4.
02:01And you're going to play them.
02:02And last year, they were a last-place team.
02:04The Giants, 2-11.
02:06Sure, that's a weak-sauce team.
02:08But Jacksonville, 9-4.
02:10Houston, 8-5.
02:12More than just Plucky and Indy, 8-5.
02:15Even though when you play them, they might be, what, 8-6?
02:20Or, yeah, they might be 8-6.
02:21And they're not the same team that they were.
02:23And Tennessee is, God, they're maybe the worst team in football.
02:27But also, it's a little bit of a mixed bag.
02:29I do think that some of the teams you played are better than you thought.
02:34Some of the bad teams are as bad as you thought.
02:36So your schedule's actually a little bit tougher than what we would have thought.
02:39There's also circumstances and timing that's involved in all of this.
02:43For example, they lose in Tampa.
02:46That was the game Fred Warner got hurt.
02:48And so, like, add that circumstance in.
02:51I also think Tampa, back in Week 6, was a better team than they are now.
02:56No doubt.
02:56And that's another thing to think about.
02:58Like, that's one thing that I do feel.
03:00I don't necessarily want to define expectations yet.
03:03Because if they're the 7-seed or the 1-seed, I'm going to come out of there with different expectations.
03:08But at the same time, I will say, isn't this just another example of,
03:13if you can handle whatever adversity the first half of a season throws you,
03:20hang in there, big guy.
03:22There'll be some better days ahead.
03:25You just don't know what that's going to mean for late in the year.
03:29Now, the 49ers still don't have Fred Warner and Nick Bosa.
03:32That's true.
03:33But they do have Brock Purdy and George Kittle.
03:36They do have a wide receiver core.
03:38And as I look around the league, I see the Colts.
03:41The Colts were all set up for a magical season.
03:45Not anymore.
03:45The Chargers, the quarterback's hand is broken.
03:50The Eagles are doing another December dive.
03:53And we just mentioned Tampa.
03:56Baker's not quite healthy.
03:58And who knows what's the...
03:59There's still a quarter pull, basically, of the season to go.
04:03So this could absolutely turn their way in ways that we didn't necessarily see coming.
04:09Like, they actually are starting to threaten to be one of the healthier teams as we move into December.
04:14I mean, knock on wood, hoping that everybody stays healthy.
04:17But you and I talked in the green room about the offensive line, which is now pretty much healthy.
04:22I know you lost Bartsch, but you've got Burford back.
04:25And so you're starting five there.
04:27Feels like it's going to be intact.
04:30And Pearsall's back.
04:31I don't know if he's going to be as good as he was early on based on the knee or based on his usage.
04:36I don't really know.
04:38Juwan Jennings had five broken ribs.
04:40It doesn't seem to be an issue anymore.
04:42Christian McCaffrey leads football in touches.
04:45And George Kittle is all the way back.
04:48And you've got your starting quarterback, your $53 million a year guy.
04:51So your offense is as healthy as any other offense in football.
04:56So, yeah, there's that.
04:58And defensively, it's been duct tape and staples and, like, all kinds of other patchwork stuff.
05:05Yet, they're coming off back-to-back games where they held teams to less than 10 points a game.
05:11So that's got to be something.
05:13Like, maybe it's not the people.
05:15Maybe it's Robert Sala.
05:16Maybe it's the team you played.
05:18Whatever it is, the defense, even though you lost Warner and Bosa, they were awesome the last two weeks.
05:23Yes.
05:24And they're playing Carolina and Cleveland.
05:26So they're playing challenged offenses, no doubt.
05:28Although Carolina has their moments.
05:30And Tennessee this week.
05:30And Tennessee this week.
05:31But there's no doubt, right?
05:33They have been better.
05:36They look like they're getting better.
05:37If you do go back to Kyle Shanahan's preseason comments, and obviously at that time,
05:44he was presupposing that Fred Warner and Nick Bosa would be playing football.
05:47But he even then knew, he's like, it's a young group, and our goal is that when we get to the double-digit weeks,
05:58that those are better players then than they're going to be now.
06:02And we hope to be good enough at that time to get into the tournament, and then maybe we're a different team.
06:09And I think that the last couple of weeks, you've seen maybe some flashes of that.
06:13And some interesting, I think, and I've got to admit, right?
06:20I was among those that at the trade deadline, I was like, man, it's going to be good to do something.
06:25And under the radar, they kind of did.
06:28And it's now paying some dividends.
06:30Cleland Furl's playing well.
06:31Keon White's playing well.
06:33And so those guys are starting to hum a little bit.
06:36We'll see what it looks like against really good competition.
06:39Not this week.
06:40And maybe not the week after that.
06:42But once Caleb Williams and Sam Darnold are in town, we'll see.
06:48Like, that'll be a good look.
06:50But the Niners have a great chance to be 11-4 when those two games happen.
06:56And like Boxer and Gerson work injury attorney's text line just texted in and said,
06:59except the Seahawks and Rams aren't slowing down.
07:02Not yet.
07:03No.
07:03But they've still got, they play each other a week from Thursday.
07:08Meantime, the Rams have to deal with the Lions before that.
07:12Yep.
07:12This week.
07:13I don't know who's going to be healthy, who's going to be injured, and who's going to have
07:16blemishes.
07:17And don't tell me they're just going to work their way through that with no problem because
07:20nobody saw them going to Carolina and having happened what happened.
07:25So, I don't know.
07:27I don't know.
07:27So, two weeks from now, if the Niners handle Cam Ward and whoever the human is with a Colt
07:34helmet on, if they handle that, two weeks from today, if it's Victory Tuesday and the
07:41Niners are 11-4, they absolutely could be in first place in the NFC West or at least
07:50in line.
07:50They may still, let's say Seattle beats the Rams.
07:53Right.
07:53They still might be behind Seattle by a half game, but knowing that the Seahawks are still
07:57on their schedule.
07:58They could have a straight line at the one seed two weeks from today.
08:03That's what I'm saying.
08:04It's possible.
08:04And I look at the Rams, they've got Detroit at home and then at Seattle, and if they,
08:10let's say they beat Detroit and they lose to Seattle, they're 11-4, and Seattle beats
08:14Indy and they beat the Rams, they're 12-3, and the Niners beat Tennessee, they beat Indy,
08:19they're 11-4.
08:20You're a game back at Seattle, but you've got a game in hand as long as you beat Seattle
08:25in week 18.
08:26So that becomes what you're talking about, the straight line route, and I know Green Bay
08:31is still a threat.
08:32Yep.
08:32They go to Denver, to Chicago, they've got Baltimore, and Baltimore's going to be in
08:37probably in a must-win spot.
08:39Desperation mode, yep.
08:40At Minnesota in the last week of the year or so.
08:42I'm more concerned about the Rams.
08:44Can the Rams lose to Detroit or Seattle?
08:48And preferably both, but if they lose to, I mean, if they lose to, it'd be better if
08:54they lost to Seattle.
08:56That way you can beat Seattle and you control your destiny that way, but I do think that
09:01the Niners schedule, the remaining, Tennessee, Indy, Chicago, Seattle, not easy, but easier
09:07than some.
09:07Actually, check this out.
09:09Correct me if I'm wrong.
09:10I think it's this simple.
09:12If the Rams lose one more game, just one time, then the Niners control their own destiny
09:19in the NFC West.
09:20Correct?
09:20Yes.
09:21Yes.
09:21That's it.
09:22Yep.
09:23There you have it.
09:24And yes, I think that one of those losses is going to have to come in the next two weeks.
09:30The Rams finish at Atlanta and home to Arizona.
09:33Yeah.
09:33They're probably going to get those games.
09:35They're probably going to get those games.
09:36They're sitting there at 10-3.
09:38I like them for at least 12 wins, but yes, in the next nine days, the Rams have two
09:44real challenges, and if they lose one of them, then the Niners control their own destiny
09:49in the NFC West.
09:50Right.
09:50That's hard.
09:51You're asking for a seven-game win streak against at least two quality opponents at the
09:55end of the year.
09:56I'm not saying.
09:56But they'd have a shot.
09:58And there are two AFC teams that are currently riding 10-game win streaks.
10:02Denver and New England.
10:03So wild.
10:03They both have won 10 in a row.
10:05Yeah, and Denver's won them by a collective 12 points, it feels like.
10:08That sounds about right.
10:10It's unbelievable, man.
10:10It's crazy.
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