The 2023 NFL season has officially reached the halfway point, meaning its time for teams like the San Francisco 49ers to start looking seriously at the playoff picture. From now until the end of the regular season, we will be assessing where the 49ers stand.

Here's how the playoff picture looks right now.

Team	Record
Eagles	8-1
Lions	6-2
49ers	5-3
Saints	5-3
Seahawks	5-3
Cowboys	5-3
Vikings	5-4

Right now, thanks to the Seattle Seahawks being blown out by the Baltimore Ravens, the 49ers are back on top of the NFC West courtesy of having a better division record than Seattle.

Yet the 49ers have loftier ambitions than simply winning their division and there is still room for optimism they can compete for the number one seed in the NFC. San Francisco can move to within two games back of Philadelphia with a victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 10 with the Eagles on the bye week.

That will still be a difficult deficit to overturn, but the Eagles' stretch run makes such a turnaround seem possible.

Eagles

• Week 11 at Chiefs
• Week 12 vs Bills
• Week 13 vs 49ers
• Week 14 at Cowboys
• Week 15 at Seahawks
• Week 16 vs Giants
• Week 17 vs Cardinals
• Week 18 at Giants

The first five weeks of the Eagles' schedule after the bye are extremely difficult. It is a gauntlet for a Philadelphia team that has not been entirely convincing in 2023 and, if the 49ers can avenge last season's NFC Championship Game defeat, it could be a victory that sets them up to take control of the conference given the other hurdles Jalen Hurts and Co. must navigate.

But if the 49ers can't overhaul Philadelphia they'll at least want to edge the Detroit Lions to the two seed. That is not exactly an easy task, however.

Lions

• Week 10 at Chargers
• Week 11 vs Bears
• Week 12 vs Packers
• Week 13 at Saints
• Week 14 at Bears
• Week 15 vs Broncos
• Week 16 at Vikings
• Week 17 at Cowboys
• Week 18 vs Vikings

The Lions' schedule looks more manageable than that of the Eagles, in large part thanks to the weakness of the NFC North, but there are obvious challenges that could hinder their hopes of being the second seed, if not the first.

A Week 13 game in the Superdome projects as a clear test of their mettle, while a three-game run in which contests with a Minnesota Vikings team not throwing in the towel despite their quarterback adversity sandwiched by a trip to Dallas is not exactly a kind finish to the regular season.

The Lions will be favored in most of their remaining games, but there's enough potential slip-ups there to encourage the Niners.

San Francisco, though, can't just focus on the fight for the one seed. Because of their three-game losing streak, the 49ers have to keep looking over their shoulder at the Seahawks, who could still thwart the Niners in the NFC West hunt.

Seahawks

• Week 10 vs Commanders
• Week 11 at Rams
• Week 12 vs 49ers
• Week 13 at Cowboys
• Week 14 at 49ers
• Week 15 vs Eagles
• Week 16 at Titans
• Week 17 vs Steelers
• Week 18 at Cardinals

The Niners' need to get back on track against Jacksonville is magnified by the Seahawks having a home game in which they will be expected to prevail over the Commanders. 

San Francisco will hope Matthew Stafford is healthy enough to help the Rams do the 49ers a favor in Week 11, but the reality is Seattle's hopes of seriously competing to win the NFC West rest on a brutal stretch in which they play the Niners twice either side of a road game in Dallas and then host the Eagles. 

A trip to Tennessee to face the Titans looks a tricker prospect than it did a couple of weeks ago and the Pittsburgh Steelers' defense will present Geno Smith plenty of problems, but the Seahawks will likely be out of it by that point if they cannot find a way to avoid being swept by the 49ers again.

The 49ers' three-game skid has far from decimated their hopes of standing atop the NFC when all is said and done, but they need to get back on the right track this week to prevent things from beginning to look dicey.

Chase Young not interested in talk of long-term 49ers deal

He’s focused only on the present.