The last Four Verts column of 2025 has plenty to say to three teams whose offseason planning has already begun in earnest, but we’ll ring in the new year with Saturday’s huge showdowns, which have ramifications across the NFC.
49ers have a chance to enter 2026 with renewed respect
This week is a massive statement for the 49ers, who have a chance to grab the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoffs despite a slew of injuries that have gotten them into some tough spots. Head coach Kyle Shanahan has done a masterful job orchestrating this offense through an injury to Brock Purdy, with Mac Jones filling in as his starter, and has recharged the 49ers’ rushing game behind a rejuvenated Christian McCaffrey en route to having one of the best offenses in the NFL this season. Saturday night is the biggest game of the season for both the 49ers and the Seahawks, who come to town with the No. 1 seed currently. But the 49ers can really gain respect going into the postseason with a win.
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There is nothing more valuable in the NFL playoffs than getting the top seed in each conference. Skipping a round increases the chances of getting to the Super Bowl and allows teams to get a smidge healthier before heading into the final run of the season.
The 49ers could always use a week off given their constant injury problems, but they’ll have to get past the monstrous Seahawks defense first. The 49ers might actually be up for the task. Their offense has been just as dominant as Seattle’s defense since midseason, with both units ranked in the top five for just about every statistic during that timespan.
Where things will really get difficult for the 49ers is on the other side of the ball. Their defense has suffered too many important injuries to be an effective unit through the back half of the season. Things would look a little different if they had Nick Bosa, Fred Warner and Mykel Williams out there, but they can play with only what they’re given. Well, since Week 9 that defense has ranked dead last in success rate (47.7%), according to TruMedia and it ranks 26th in points per drive (2.46). That’s a tough spot to be in against a good, if inconsistent, Seahawks offense.
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It’s hard to believe the 49ers hold the keys to their own playoff doorway after a 6-4 start that was stamped with a 42-26 loss to the Rams, but they’re still here where they want to be through all this. Shanahan should be the frontrunner for the Coach of the Year award given what he’s gotten this team to power through this season, and if the 49ers can lock in the No. 1 seed, it’s one of the more impressive feats of coaching and organizational skill in recent memory.
New year, new 49ers. They can make their claim for the Super Bowl in a real way this weekend with what would be arguably the biggest regular-season win for the 49ers in the Shanahan era.
NFC South’s slop of a season is a hilarious way to bring in the new year
The Panthers and Buccaneers face off Saturday for the crown of the worst division in the NFL this season, the NFC South. Well, mostly.
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If the Panthers win, they outright win the NFC South with the best record at a very mediocre 9-8. If the Buccaneers win, things get a little interesting because the winner of the division actually wouldn’t be resolved until the following day, when the Panthers could still win it if the Falcons beat the Saints. That’s right, in the scenario that Tampa Bay wins, the Falcons and Saints will decide the division winner despite not being able to win the division themselves.
Ultimately, it feels appropriate for the 2025 NFC South to end this way. All four of these teams have a negative point differential, and the Falcons already being eliminated in a scenario where a three-way 8-9 tie is possible is objectively funny. If the Buccaneers win, they need the Saints to beat or tie with the Falcons in order to make the playoffs. The Panthers need the Falcons to win in that scenario. It’s best for the Panthers to just handle business and win Saturday so they can lock in themselves for a home playoff game (which should be illegal) likely against the loser of Seahawks-49ers this weekend.
Perhaps the winner of the division deserves just that: to be trounced in front of their fans to open the playoffs to make up for the sins of the NFL even allowing the winner of this division to host a sacred playoff game. However, the idea that the winner of this division will potentially be held in the hands of another weak edition of the NFL’s most intense, saddest rivalry is fitting. Maybe the Panthers and Buccaneers should both feel some shame for allowing it to get this far.
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There’s not even much hope for next season’s version of the division being all that much better, considering where most of the teams find themselves at quarterback. Hell, maybe Saints QB Tyler Shough can cement his legacy with an 8-9 division title in the 2026 campaign. It’s anyone’s world at this point. At least it’ll be worth a few laughs to close out the holiday season.
Falcons, Colts facing grim offseasons after aggressive moves backfired
Oh, to be a fly on the wall in Indianapolis or Atlanta right now. Both the Colts and Falcons made “all in” moves throughout the course of the year and will miss the playoffs. Their gambles have put some strain on their abilities to maximize their offseasons in order to improve, and they both face major questions at the most important position. It’s unknown who will lose their jobs, if anyone, from these seasons, but it’s hard not to feel like both teams massively overestimated what they had coming into pivotal seasons in their franchises’ growth cycles.
The Falcons opted to make 2025 a home run swing when they traded away their 2026 first-round pick to the Rams to select edge rusher James Pearce Jr. He’s had a very solid rookie year as a pass rush specialist, notching 8.5 sacks. He and fellow first-round pick Jalon Walker form the most promising front seven duo the Falcons have had in ages, and now there is an immense amount of pressure on those guys to continue improving considering the Falcons will have limited assets to continue adding talent to the defense.
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According to Spotrac, the Falcons are projected to have just over $5 million in salary cap space in 2026, but they have a handful of moves they can make to free up room, like releasing quarterback Kirk Cousins and wide receiver Darnell Mooney and doing restructures on veterans they plan on keeping. Who they can actually acquire with that cap space is a different problem, but both the offense and defense will need significant upgrades if the Falcons plan on playing well enough to sustain this late-season stretch throughout the whole season.
Third-year quarterback Michael Penix Jr. is a complete wild card considering he’s coming off of his third torn ACL, but he will likely be the starter for the majority of the season in 2026 — barring a decision to spend cap space on a less expensive bridge starter. Either way, the Falcons will be relying on whatever free agency plugs they can find and the continued growth of their young players to get moving.
That might be a better spot than the Colts, who traded away the next two first-round picks to get Sauce Gardner right before their season took a nosedive. A litany of injuries, including a torn Achilles to quarterback Daniel Jones, who was having a career year, derailed things in Indianapolis. They ended up signing the formerly retired Philip Rivers, but they still lost six games in a row to miss the playoffs and wind up in the worst kind of no man’s land.
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The surrounding offensive cast is good enough to be one of the better offenses in the league, but the Colts’ quarterback situation will hamper their ability to maximize on that. With no first-round pick until 2028, it’s tough to see where they can possibly improve their quarterback play, but they need to find an answer so they don’t waste the next couple years — which seems like the likely outcome barring a teardown.
Good luck to both of these franchises as they really put on their thinking caps to upgrade their rosters while remaining competitive in 2026. It’s going to be difficult, but at least they each have enough high-end talent.
Cowboys’ New Year’s resolution is better DB play
Well, the Cowboys know they have to upgrade their defense. Everyone knows the Cowboys have to upgrade their defense. Dallas has done a solid job retooling the defensive line to the point it can be one of the best units in the NFL next season if some young players take the next step and continue to develop. However, the back seven and, most importantly, the defensive back room, needs several upgrades in order to take advantage of the talent in front of them.
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The Cowboys appear to have already punched in their New Year’s resolution to improve their pass defense by releasing longtime cornerback Trevon Diggs ahead of the offseason. Diggs’ release was likely inevitable given the nosedive in his production, but it officially creates a hole the Cowboys will need to fill with premium talent.
They don’t have much besides the potential of third-round pick Shavon Revel Jr., but with two first-round picks in the upcoming NFL Draft, they’ll have plenty of opportunities to continue to improve the secondary. And their cap situation is fairly healthy (for now) for such a top-heavy roster.
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If the Cowboys can make some serious, immediate improvements to their pass coverage there’s no reason why this team (sigh) can’t be Super Bowl contenders in 2026. The offense is ready to go on a run, the defensive line will be good — they just need a couple guys who can cover. The New Year’s resolution to improve that area of their team has already started, but they have a ways to go before it’s anywhere close to being fully resolved. This is a huge offseason for Dallas, with a key, clear need to improve and the assets to get it done.
