The San Francisco 49ers did their job in Week 11 as they held off the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to improve to 7-3, and they then received some major assistance from one of their biggest rivals.

San Francisco beat Tampa Bay 27-14 to ensure it would remain atop the NFC West regardless of the result between the Seattle Seahawks and the Los Angeles Rams. 

But the 49ers now head into a massive Thanksgiving night game in Seattle with a one-game lead over the Seahawks in the NFC West after the Rams prevailed 17-16 at SoFi Stadium.

That upset dropped the Seahawks to 6-4, with Seattle now 1-2 inside the division after a game in which Geno Smith suffered an arm injury that could keep him out of the Week 12 encounter.

San Francisco is 2-0 in the division, though that tiebreaker would be meaningless were the 49ers to fall to defeat to the Seahawks on Thursday. Seattle would leapfrog them into first place with a victory.

But in a scenario in which the 49ers and Seahawks split their series, the in-division record could ultimately prove to be what decides whether San Francisco retains the NFC West title. 

Should San Francisco prevail in Seattle, the Niners would have a two-game lead in the division, a lead in the head-to-head series and a clear advantage in the division record tiebreaker.

Having returned to form during a spell in which the Seahawks have lost two of their last three, the 49ers are essentially a primetime victory away from being in the box seat to win an NFC West battle that is tighter than most probably anticipated.

49ers’ Talanoa Hufanga likely has ACL injury

They’re fearing the worst.