The San Francisco 49ers host the Washington Commanders tonight to complete the Week Six National Football League schedule. Kyle Shanahan’s squad is one of the three unbeaten teams in the league and the first team that could reach the six-win plateau without a loss. The Minnesota Vikings had their bye this week after winning their first five games and the Kansas City Chiefs won their fifth game yesterday following their bye week.
The 49ers came into this season considered contenders for all the marbles but playing out of the toughest division in football with odds that forecasted they were likely a third-place finisher behind the favored Los Angeles Rams and defending Super Bowl Champion Seattle Seahawks. But over the first month of the season, the Rams look like a horse forced to carry a 200-pound jockey and the Seahawks are having a quarterback controversy now that Sam Darnold has won only one of the four games he has started and finished.
If the 49ers win tonight, and they are favored by more than a touchdown, the NFC West Division race may look like San Francisco is Secretariat in the Belmont Stakes. You probably recall or have since learned that Secretariat won the final leg of horse racing’s Triple Crown in 1973 in record time and by 31 lengths. In fact, he had such a lead on the field that jockey Ron Turcotte actually took a peek back while making the final turn to see how far the rest of the field was behind the horse he said after the race did all the work while he was just along for the ride.
Might Shanahan have a similar comment about his team if they continue to perform at the level they have demonstrated over the first month of the 2026 campaign? And might this be the week that they pull so far ahead of the field in their division that they can begin the coast to the finish line?
After all, this week their two primary division rivals, the Seahawks and Rams, have both already lost. Seattle was upset by the Denver Broncos on Thursday night, and the Rams didn’t allow the Arizona Cardinals a touchdown yesterday but the six field goals the visitors kicked was enough to eke out an 18-16 win for the visiting dogs. How many players do you think were knocked out of their survivor pool with that Los Angeles loss?
Statistically, the 49ers have the third best defense in the league based on points allowed, while the visitors tonight, the Commanders, are third from the bottom in points allowed. On the season, the Commanders have averaged allowing 11 points more per game than the 49ers.