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Since I don’t follow NFL anymore, how much of the 49er success depended on the schedule? As I recall a team who won 3 or 4 games this year gets more games against other teams that won 305 games as well. Was that a factor?

They played NO in NO. Seattle in Seattle and Baltimore in Baltimore.

Won 2 of 3.

They didn’t have a light schedule.

And dealt with a lot of injuries, like everybody else.

Since I don’t follow NFL anymore, how much of the 49er success depended on the schedule? As I recall a team who won 3 or 4 games this year gets more games against other teams that won 305 games as well. Was that a factor?

I despise the 49ers, but since they are in one of the toughest divisions in football, their schedule was pretty tough. They also had to play the entire AFC North, which is half good and half weak. The current system does not give games as weak as the schedule back when there were three divisions in each conference, when cellar dwelling teams played each other a lot more.

The #1 schedule thing is a misnomer. Happens because when you finish #1 in your division you’ll face the other 2 teams that finished #1 in their division in your conference (plus the #1 in the division your division rotates against). But the real math of it is those just “substitute” for the 2 games your division mates play against you. In the end the cycle of 6 in division games, division in your conference, division in the other conference, plus “rank” games means that every team plays 4 games a season against teams that finished at each of the 4 division rankings last season. There is no #1 schedule.

Now thanks to the division rotations you can get soft schedules, because the divisions aren’t made equal. That was the Pats this year, with their rotations being against the NFC East, and the AFC North, and of course their division including the Phins and Jets half their schedule was against the dregs of the league. Niners had a pretty solid schedule this year.