How can 49ers make the playoffs? San Francisco's chances and scenarios explored after dropping to 5-7

The San Francisco 49ers are continuing their collapse from Super Bowl contenders, suffering a 10-35 loss at the Buffalo Bills in the snow of Highmark Stadium in Orcgard Park on Sunday.

That has put them at 5-7 - not exactly the result they wanted when the Los Angeles Rams and Seattle Seahawks won their games. But it gets worse.

During the second quarter, star running back Christian McCaffrey also went down with an injury - and he had already missed a significant portion of the early season. When combined to injuries to Javon Hargrave, Brandon Aiyuk and Fred Warner, that makes for a recipe for disaster.

But is there still hope for Santa Clara? This analysis aims to find out.

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San Francisco 49ers' playoff chances after 5-7 start

As the image from the Sportskeeda playoff predictor below shows, not even winning the next five games and finishing 10-7 will be enough for the 49ers:

Even ten wins can still exclude the 49ers from postseason contention

Such an occurrence is actually not uncommon. Most notably, the 2008 New England Patriots, who played most of the season without Tom Brady because of an ACL tear, won eleven games but missed the playoffs via tiebreaks: The Miami Dolphins clinched the AFC East, and the Baltimore Ravens the sixth seed, via better conference records.

They must hope that other results fall in their favor while they win. The first critical point will be next week against Chicago. They must win that game, but they can afford that the Rams defeat the Bills.

Week 15 is the most crucial game, however. Should the 49ers win or draw, they will be still alive; but a loss will all but kill their bid via series record, even if they win their remaining games.

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San Francisco 49ers' playoff scenarios after SNF loss to Bills

The best case scenario is the third seed, which will happen if they and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers go 10-7, in which case win-over-the-other applies. But realistically, the fourth seed is where they should land.

Should they finish 9-8 and tie with the Green Bay Packers, they will be eliminated via win-over-the-other. If it is the Atlanta Falcons who advance, then they will also get the tiebreak.

There is one scenario wherein they finish in the wild card (seen below): they win their next four games, then draw with the Arizona Cardinals. That will put them at 9-7-1, but the Cardinals will clinch the NFC West via better head-to-head, while the 49ers get the seventh seed. This will also require the Packers to lose all their remaining five games (no draws whatsoever; otherwise, they will get in via win-over-the-other).

The San Francisco 49ers' worst-case scenario for the playoffs