SalishHawkFan":3lxffhjp said:
If they lose to Miami they don't deserve the division title. Miami is a team they should beat, even on the road. So is Buffalo. This team can definitely win all it's remaining home games. So if they do what they SHOULD do with the talent level they have, then Chicago is the only team we shouldn't expect them to beat. That puts them at 11-5 which is exactly what my preseason prediction was for them. Haven beaten SF at home to get to that record, the Niners would be 6-4-1 with five other games to play. A loss to Chicago or New England puts us up. I wouldn't expect SF to win both of those games. I still believe as I did before the season started that the game against SF will be for the title. We'd have to throw it away either at home against AZ or St. Lo or else shoot ourselves in the foot against Miami or Buffalo to knock ourselves out of it.
Eh, I don't buy the "deserve" angle. Never have, no matter what team it's applied to. Do the 49ers not "deserve" the division title because they failed to beat the Rams at Candlestick? Deserve doesn't mean jack, because the 49ers still have a really good shot at it.
Don't forget that two weeks ago, Miami was 4-3. And they had just beaten the Jets by 21, same as us. Their rookie QB has had some really good games and some bad ones, same as ours. And their defense may give up a lot of yardage, but they're a top 10 defense in points allowed, even after that 37 point shellacking they took from Tennessee. Miami's not going to be an easy out, especially with the Hawks travelling 3000 miles to play there.
Still, it's not the toughest game left, and Seattle needs to win those winnable games to have the best chance at the postseason and possibly the division title. But Seattle could fall just short on the road (again) with a loss at Miami and then turn around and win 5 straight. And that might win the division, and it damn well will have been earned, no matter whether they "deserved" it or not based on the Miami game.