© Mark J. Rebilas | 2021 Jan 3
Just about every part of the 2020 season was torturous for the San Francisco 49ers. But at the end, they got something worthwhile out of it. With their win over the Arizona Cardinals in Week 16, the 49ers were set back in their draft hopes. The chance of jumping into the top-10 was all but gone.
But some luck went their way on Sunday. With their 26-23 loss to the Seattle Seahawks, the 49ers dropped to 6-10.
Earlier in the day, the New England Patriots beat the New York Jets and the Minnesota Vikings beat the Detroit Lions. Both of those wins bumped San Francisco up to the 13th spot. The other potential spot to jump was with a Dallas Cowboys win over the New York Giants, but the Cowboys blew that one.
And thanks to the Kansas City Chiefs being 14-1, they sat the vast majority of their starters against the Los Angeles Chargers and the Chargers, who took the Chiefs to overtime earlier in the year, won 38-21. That was another spot. At worst, San Francisco would draft 12th.
The last game was Denver Broncos against the Las Vegas Raiders. A Broncos win would bump the 49ers’ up to the 11th spot in the draft. They were leading 31-24 with two minutes remaining. That did not hold. Las Vegas went down and scored and converted a two-point conversion to go up 32-31. Denver couldn’t complete a Hail Mary or get a field goal (they burned two timeouts in the last minute for no reason), and lost.
That was the last game in question. The 49ers have the 12th overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft.