The ideal playoff seed for the 49ers' Super Bowl hopes

Other than the No. 1 seed, of course.

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The NFC is still so tight that the San Francisco 49ers could essentially finish anywhere from the one-seed to out of the playoffs at this point in the season. The only seed that they will not be landing is the four.

So, there is a good question as to what could be the best path to a Super Bowl run?

What is the best seed for the San Francisco 49ers?

Obviously, the one seed is what the 49ers are aspiring for. It gets you a bye week, and the team that may want a bye week the most is the 49ers. If they can get a little more rested for some of their injured defenders and Ricky Pearsall, it would go a long way. They draw the bottom seed the rest of the way, which helps as well.

However, there is a fair argument to be made that the next best seed to earn is the five, not the number two. That is because of the NFC South. With the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Carolina Panthers at 7-7 they are quite clearly going to be the worst teams in the field on the NFC side, whoever wins the division. 

So, it begs the question of whether the 49ers would like to go on the road to play one of these teams, or would they rather be at home, and either face a division foe, or one of the Green Bay Packers, Detroit Lions, or Chicago Bears? All three of those teams are tougher on paper than the NFC South champion, even if the 49ers would be at home.

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To be fair, the 49ers lost to the Buccaneers in Tampa Bay once already. Still, the Bucs are a much different team right now than they were back then, and they do not look quite as daunting. Beyond that, the 49ers are 5-2 on the road this season, and they are favored against the Indianapolis Colts with a chance to go 6-2. 

As it stands now, the 49ers are 3.5-point favorites over the Bears in Week 17 and 4.5-point favorites against the Seahawks in Week 18. However, they were underdogs against the Rams at home earlier this year. The 49ers recently were 8.5-point favorites against Carolina, and while it would be different on the road, you could expect them to be about 5-point favorites in Carolina. So, the odds are that they have a better chance, if not just as good, on the road as the fifth seed. 

The 49ers would have to face a higher seed in the next round, but if someone below them pulled off an upset, that would swing the matchups anyway. It is an interesting debate either way.