49ers Won't Overlook the Commanders When They Face off in Week 17

From an exciting and tough matchup, to an easy and boring one.

That is what the San Francisco 49ers face when they take on the Washington Commanders this week after facing the Baltimore Ravens. It's much easier for the 49ers to lock in against a team like the Ravens than the Commanders who have nothing to play for.

However, the 49ers won't overlook the Commanders when they face off in Week 17. Kyle Shanahan actually views the Commanders as a bit of a scary matchup when the 49ers hit the road to play them.

"I think all teams are scary, but especially in that situation," said Shanahan. "When people have nothing to lose, first of all everyone always has things to lose because usually when people say there's nothing to lose, there's a lot of guys playing for their jobs too and those guys know that.

"Even veterans who don't think that they are they usually find out at the end of the season that they were. So you’ve always got guys who are playing hard. I know they're playing a quarterback who's won a lot of games in this league. I know they’ve got some players on their defense, so they have just a good of chance to win every week as any other team.”

It's possible that the Commanders may want to play spoiler against the 49ers. But I think they have basically mailed it in for the last month. What the 49ers have against them is that they are coming off a harsh game and now have to face the Commanders on a short week that forces them to fly cross country. Not the best conditions for the 49ers. It could be a sluggish game for them, but even that should be enough for them to get the job done.

The message of not overlooking the Commanders has to be drilled into the players' heads. Hopefully they feel some anger from their loss to the Ravens and use it to take it out on the Commanders to avoid the worst case scenario.