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The 49ers are struggling at 5-6. They have a tough game in Buffalo on Sunday night. A loss would further complicate their path to the postseason.<\/p>\n
So how is the current vibe in the locker room?<\/p>\n
\u201cThe vibe in our locker room is exactly how you would think it\u2019d be,\u201d coach Kyle Shanahan told reporters on Wednesday. \u201cWe\u2019re upset with where we\u2019re at in our record, but we\u2019ve got a tight group and we play together. I think if you live in the world online, whether you\u2019re dealing with our profession or your kids dealing with social issues in school, you\u2019re not going to be happy if you\u2019re dealing in the world online. And I\u2019ve definitely coached long enough that I don\u2019t deal in that world. Only online I look at is usually movie stuff and rap battles and funny things that animals do. Good or bad.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you listen to good stuff, like that\u2019ll mess you up more than anything. And then when you listen to bad stuff it\u2019ll crush you. That\u2019s not why any of us do this. You\u2019ve got to work with younger guys on that. I think it\u2019s harder just because of the world that they\u2019ve been brought up in. But don\u2019t make someone else\u2019s reality your reality. You\u2019ve got to focus on what your job is and never get away from that.\u201d<\/p>\n
The reality is that fans and media who have been spoiled by plenty of playoff appearances and Super Bowl berths are getting restless. Some have even made the ridiculous suggestion that Shanahan should be on the hot seat. Shanahan isn\u2019t trying to assess himself during a down year.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s up to you guys to grade me,\u201d Shanahan said. \u201cI work as hard as I can to get a win that week and we haven\u2019t won as much as I believe we should have. We\u2019ve lost three games that I feel we were capable of winning and should have won. Those are the ones that are the toughest. In terms of grading myself, I\u2019m not going to grade myself. I\u2019m going to work as hard as I can. I\u2019m the same guy I am right now that I\u2019ve always been. We\u2019ve got to overcome some things that we\u2019re in right now. I believe we can overcome them, but we put ourselves in a tough bind and that\u2019s why we\u2019ve got to be extremely good and successful here going forward to be able to overcome that stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n
If they can get and stay healthy, they absolutely can do it. Every team has to deal with injuries, but the 49ers have been stung more than most. It likely has something to do with the physical stress of playing so many extra postseason games from 2021 through 2023.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a mental toll as well. It\u2019s hard to put so much into a season and be denied the ultimate goal.<\/p>\n
That said, there\u2019s a team or two every year that gets hot after Thanksgiving and carries that into the playoffs. The 49ers can be one of those teams this year.<\/p>\n
And that effort would be helped tremendously if they can find a way to upset the Bills on Sunday night. After that, most of the games are winnable \u2014 Bears, Rams, at Dolphins, Lions, at Cardinals. Even with a loss on Sunday, 9-8 is doable. Whether that will do enough to pick off the Commanders for the No. 7 seed remains to be seen.<\/p>\n
The rest of the playoff teams in the NFC should hope that doesn\u2019t happen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The 49ers are struggling at 5-6.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":13261,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13258","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"yoast_head":"\n