{"id":638354,"date":"2025-12-29T18:23:12","date_gmt":"2025-12-29T18:23:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/638354\/"},"modified":"2025-12-29T18:23:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-29T18:23:12","slug":"could-49ers-lb-fred-warner-return-for-the-nfl-playoffs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/638354\/","title":{"rendered":"Could 49ers LB Fred Warner return for the NFL Playoffs?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The San Francisco 49ers are one win away from the top seed in the NFC Playoffs, an NFC West title, and a first-round BYE in the postseason.<\/p>\n<p>As the 49ers prepare for a winner-take-all matchup against their rival Seattle Seahawks in Week 18, the status of star linebacker Fred Warner has come into question.<\/p>\n<p>While Warner, who has been sidelined since mid-October due to a dislocated and fractured right ankle, will not return in time for San Francisco\u2019s matchup against Seattle, the four-time Pro Bowler is getting closer to putting the bads back on.<\/p>\n<p>During Monday morning\u2019s edition of The Carmichael Dave Show with Jason Ross, <a href=\"https:\/\/theathletic.com\/author\/matt-barrows\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">The Athletic\u2019s Matt Barrows<\/a> joined the show to share his thoughts on the <a href=\"https:\/\/sactownsports.com\/60867\/purdy-49ers-bears-nfc-showdown-thriller\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">49ers\u2019 thrilling win over the Chicago Bears<\/a>, look ahead to a massive matchup against the Seahawks on Saturday, and much more, including sharing a status update on Warner.<\/p>\n<p>On Warner, Barrows seemed optimistic that we will see the linebacker return during a potential 49ers postseason run. However, it would bode well for San Francisco to earn the first-round BYE and avoid the Wild Card round.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cI don\u2019t think it would be for the Wild Card round, for example. If they lose to Seattle, I don\u2019t think that you\u2019ll see Fred Warner in the first game,\u201d Barrows said. \u201cNow, if they get the bye and they\u2019re in the divisional, I think it\u2019s 50\/50 whether you see him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">If the 49ers can defeat the Seahawks and secure a first-round BYE, it would set Warner up for a potential return on January 17th or 18th at Levi\u2019s Stadium.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Barrows laid out a potential return-to-action plan for Warner, who could play limited snaps in the divisional round game before ramping up in the later rounds.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cThey\u2019ve had all sorts of issues with that strong side linebacker role. Maybe that\u2019s what he plays,\u201d Barrows said. \u201cYou let Tatum Bethune be your every-down linebacker, and then you sort of get Fred Warner back into the stream by giving him, I don\u2019t know, 12 snaps in that divisional round game.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cDepending on how he reacts to that, I mean, if they\u2019re in the championship game, I think you\u2019d need a team of horses to keep Fred Warner from playing in that one. And then, if it\u2019s the Super Bowl, you\u2019d better bring an army because, yeah, he\u2019s playing. Fred Warner is gonna find a way to play in that game in his own stadium.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Be sure to listen to and watch the entire interview with The Athletic\u2019s San Francisco 49ers beat writer, Matt Barrows, right here or on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@SactownSports1140\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Sactown Sports 1140 YouTube page.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.stocktonhonda.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Brought to you by our friends at Stockton Honda. Pay them a visit today!<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Listen to\u00a0The Carmichael Dave Show with Jason Ross from 6 \u2013 10 a.m. PST, Monday through Friday, on <a href=\"https:\/\/sactownsports.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sactown Sports 1140.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/sactownsports.com\/category\/podcast_results\/?i=1628&amp;n=The+Carmichael+Dave+Show+with+Jason+Ross\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Click here for full episodes of The Carmichael Dave Show\u00a0with Jason Ross<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/sactownsports.com\/category\/nfl\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Check out more 49ers &amp; NFL content from Sactown Sports.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>More San Francisco 49ers content from Sactown Sports<\/p>\n<p>Brock Purdy passed for three touchdowns and ran for two more and Christian McCaffrey had 181 scrimmage yards and a score as the host San Francisco 49ers edged the Chicago Bears 42-38 on Sunday night in Santa Clara, Calif.<\/p>\n<p>San Francisco (12-4) went ahead on a 38-yard touchdown pass from Purdy to Jauan Jennings with 2:15 to go before holding on against cardiac Chicago.<\/p>\n<p>The Bears (11-5) were unable to add to their NFL-record six victories when trailing in the final two minutes of regulation. Chicago drove to the San Francisco 2-yard line on its final possession, including a fourth-and-5 conversion from the 26, before Caleb Williams threw incomplete on the final play.<\/p>\n<p>San Francisco can clinch the top seed in the NFC playoffs with a win against visiting Seattle in Week 18. Chicago, which secured the NFC North title with Green Bay\u2019s loss Saturday, will be the conference\u2019s second or third seed.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/sactownsports.com\/60867\/purdy-49ers-bears-nfc-showdown-thriller\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Brock Purdy accounts for 5 TDs as 49ers hang on in shootout with Bears<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>Upcoming San Francisco 49ers Schedule<\/p>\n<p>Saturday, January 3rd\u00a0\u2013 vs. Seattle Seahawks \u2013 5:00 PM PT\u00a0(Final game of regular season)<\/p>\n<p>Thank you for reading\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/sactownsports.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">SactownSports.com<\/a>. Follow us on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Sactown1140\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Twitter<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMMGengsw2Ki2Aw?hl=en-US&amp;gl=US&amp;ceid=US:en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Google News<\/a>, and subscribe to our\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/c\/SactownSports1140\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">YouTube<\/a>\u00a0channel.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"twitter-follow-button\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/FCartoscelli3\" data-show-count=\"false\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Follow @FCartoscelli3<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/sactownsports.com\/newsletters\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-perfmatters-preload=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/SactownSportsEmail-300x250-1.jpg\" style=\"margin: 0 auto;\" class=\"mobile-signup\"\/>\t&#13;<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/SactownSportsEmail-830x100-1.jpg\" style=\"margin: 0 auto;\" class=\"desktop-signup\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>                    <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The San Francisco 49ers are one win away from the top seed in the NFC Playoffs, an NFC&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":638355,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[77],"tags":[7,1631,6,84,9827,9826],"class_list":{"0":"post-638354","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl-playoffs","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-home","10":"tag-nfl","11":"tag-nfl-playoffs","12":"tag-sactownsports-com","13":"tag-sactownsports-com-sacramento-sports-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115804255349688648","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638354","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=638354"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638354\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/638355"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=638354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=638354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=638354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}