Former 49ers tight end Brent Jones knows a thing or two about winning playoff games. A three-time Super Bowl champion, Jones won a whopping 14 career postseason games as a member of the 49ers from 1988-1998. Many of the players on this current San Francisco team haven’t played a single postseason game, but Jones believes that they could’ve beaten just about every team that played in Wild Card games last weekend.
“The Titans and Chiefs, yes, the 49ers could’ve beat either one of those teams,” Jones began. “The Falcons are pretty good right now, I’d be afraid of them. The Rams, the Niners could beat even with the full Rams squad…Jags and Bills, I hope they can beat both of those two teams. The Saints are pretty good right now…I think they could take the Panthers and maybe Saints at home if they had everybody healthy.
“We’re not that far off at all.”
Jones’ comments are more than just hypothetical. The Niners dispatched the Titans (25-24) and Jaguars (44-33) in consecutive weeks, and then finished the season by blasting a shorthanded Rams team in Los Angeles 34-13. Based on the way the full-strength Rams preformed on Saturday, it sure didn’t look like they’d fully recovered.
Super Bowl odds for the 2018 season were released on Monday afternoon, and saw the 49ers with the same or better odds to make the big dance as four of this year’s playoff teams.
NFL 2019 Super Bowl
NE 5/1
Pit 8/1
Phi 10/1
Min 10/1
GB 10/1
NO 16/1
Atl 16/1
Dal 18/1
LAR 18/1
Sea 18/1
SF 20/1
Jax 20/1
Hou 20/1
Car 20/1
LAC 30/1
KC 30/1
Oak 30/1
Det 40/1
TB 40/1
Bal 40/1
Ten 40/1
Ind 40/1
Ari 40/1
Den 40/1
NYG 60/1
Wsh 60/1
Mia 60/1— Jeff Sherman (@golfodds) January 8, 2018
Listen to the full interview below. To hear Jones’ comments on the 49ers, skip to 9:00