It keeps popping up. You’re watching the 49ers’ game on TV, and at some point the playoff possibilities are flashed on the screen. It lists the sure-fire contenders and then there is a short list of teams “on the bubble” to make the playoffs.
And listed, week after week, are the hard-luck, much injured, losers-of-three-in-a-row 49ers. Do they really have a chance to make the playoffs?
Yes.
And, probably no.
It is true that there is a mathematical chance that the team could make the post season. There’s a whole complicated set of dominos that have to fall in exactly the right order — even then it is a long shot.