After a poor showing for the No. 1 seed and NFC West title, the San Francisco 49ers are scoreboard watching on Sunday with playoff seeding on the line.
The main game they’re watching? The Arizona Cardinals’ season finale against the Los Angeles Rams. Tight end George Kittle wasn’t shy about it following San Francisco’s loss to the Seattle Seahawks. He even name-dropped a couple of Cardinals in the process.
“Go Cardinals” … George Kittle has suddenly become a MASSIVE Arizona Cardinals fan.
(If the Cardinals beat the Rams tomorrow, the Niners secure the No. 5 seed and face either the Bucs or Panthers in the Wild Card round. If the Cardinals lose, the Niners slip to the No. 6 seed… pic.twitter.com/WekryGNOHd
— KNBR (@KNBR) January 4, 2026
“I hate losing, I hate losing to the Seahawks, but hey, we get to play football next week. Whoever it is and whatever happens, go Cardinals,” Kittle told reporters.
“My confidence is the exact same. I’m looking to forward to whoever we play. Let’s go (Budda Baker) and Trey McBride,” the 49ers tight end added.
Following Saturday’s loss to Seattle, San Francisco has gone from potentially getting a first-round bye as the top seed in the NFC to fighting for the fifth or sixth seed.
It all comes down to Cardinals-Rams.
With a Cardinals win, the 49ers would enter the playoffs as the No. 5 seed. The Rams, meanwhile, would be the No. 6 seed.
Instead of having to travel to Philadelphia or Chicago for the NFC Wild Card round, the 49ers would instead draw whoever wins the NFC South between Tampa Bay and Carolina.
An Arizona loss would mean San Francisco falls to the No. 6 seed and Los Angeles slides in one spot higher and gets the NFC South draw.
From an odds standpoint, the latter option seems much more likely to happen given the Cardinals are 14.5-point road underdogs, according to Fan Duel Sportsbook. Arizona also hasn’t won since Nov. 3.
