MoeJackson

It was only a matter of time before San Francisco bounced back from their recent two-game skid. Last night was the perfect opportunity for the 49ers to get back on track and they did just that, overwhelming the Redskins for the entire game. Colin Kaepernick was on point for much of the game, finding Boldin and Davis for the big plays and scores. The running game wasn’t especially impressive but Gore and Kaepernick did enough to keep the Washington defense on it’s heels. The Redskins were able to keep up with the Niners in the first half but their inability to make plays happen in the red zone really hurt them. That and the pass rush of the 49ers, keeping the pressure dialed up on RG3 for pretty much the entire game. It was seemed like every other play on offense featured RG3 on the ground or taking unnecessary hits. When you mix a bad offensive line with a QB that’s going to give up his body to make plays, that’s what the Redskins offense is. RG3 is going to have to learn sooner or later that getting a first down for a regular season game isn’t worth risking an injury that could set him back for an entire year. So this guarantees a .500 or worse record for Washington while the 49ers are back in the driver’s seat for the second wild card spot in the NFC. It’s going to be interesting battle between the Cardinals and Niners for that second spot, assuming they both don’t slip enough for the Eagles/Cowboys or a North team to take the spot. It could very well come down to the final game of the season with the 49ers in Arizona but there’s still plenty of football to played before that.

While there’s still a lot of football to play, there isn’t a more interesting race than the race for the second wild card spot in the AFC. Barring a catastrophic injury or crazy meltdown, it’s pretty much a sure thing that either Denver or Kansas City will take first wild card. But the other wild card spot, well, every other team in the conference is mathematically in the hunt. We’ll spare the bottom five teams (Texans, Jaguars, Bills, Browns and Raiders) because I don’t see any of those teams reeling of winning streaks while the other teams lose enough games. So that leaves us with the Titans (pole position), Steelers, Ravens, Chargers, Jets and Dolphins all at 5-6. The best shot obviously being the Titans as they own various tiebreakers over the other teams. Miami has the easiest of the schedules but have looked very shaky when they have the lead in a game. The Steelers and Ravens are clashing on Thanksgiving and I have a feeling that the loser has their chances minimized to almost zero. The Jets are impossible to predict but Geno Smith’s play as of late doesn’t indicate that any sort of progress is in the near future. So that leaves the Chargers. Usually a team with so much potential that just seems to lose games that they’re supposed to win and win games that they’re supposed to lose. Their victory in Kansas City was certainly the most impressive out of any of the wins all these teams have. It’s going to be interesting to see how it all shakes out with only five weeks left in the season.