The San Francisco 49ers were left kicking themselves in Week 3 and Week 5 following stunning defeats to division rivals the Los Angeles Rams and the Arizona Cardinals in which they let fourth-quarter leads slip.

San Francisco knew how damaging those losses could be, and the Niners are feeling the impact following Week 9's Sunday slate, one in which they got no help in the playoff race.

The Rams claimed a thrilling overtime win over the Seattle Seahawks, while the Cardinals eased to victory over the Chicago Bears.

Those results have left the 49ers, sitting at 4-4, in third in the NFC West, trailing both the Cardinals and the Rams. Arizona is 5-4 while the Rams are also 4-4, each having the luxury of a tiebreaker over San Francisco.

San Francisco, of course, can remove those tiebreakers by beating the Rams at home in Week 15 and avenging its loss to Arizona in Week 18.

But if the 49ers had simply finished the job against both Los Angeles and Arizona, they would be sitting at 6-2 and in full command of a division they have dominated for each of the last two seasons.

Instead, they face an uphill climb in their division and are two games back in the win column in the wild card race. The 49ers have a lot of work to do to meet what has become the baseline expectation of making the playoffs, and they only have themselves to blame. 

Oddsmakers give their view on how 49ers will handle a sneaky tough one-off test in Week 10

It’s going to be a challenge.