The San Francisco 49ers return from the bye week hoping to end a three-game losing streak that has severely dented their hopes of being the NFC’s No. 1 seed.

The 49ers are back on top of the NFC West after the Seattle Seahawks’ blowout loss to the Baltimore Ravens, but the Niners have a lot of work to do to challenge the 8-1 Philadelphia Eagles for the one seed in the conference.

While the Ravens did the Niners a favor, their demolition of the Seahawks also served as a reminder of one of the challenges they will face down the stretch in a run of fixtures that is far from easy.

The 49ers’ final nine games are as follows:

• November 12: at Jacksonville Jaguars (1 p.m. ET)
• November 19: vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (4:05 p.m. ET)
• November 23: at Seattle Seahawks (8:20 p.m. ET)
• December 3: at Philadelphia Eagles (4:25 p.m. ET)
• December 10: vs. Seattle Seahawks (4:05 p.m. ET)
• December 17: at Arizona Cardinals (4:05 p.m. ET)
• December 25: vs. Baltimore Ravens (8:15 p.m. ET)
• December 31: at Washington Commanders (1:00 p.m. ET)
• January 6/7: vs. Los Angeles Rams (time TBD)

San Francisco has a huge test immediately off the bye with a road game against the 6-2 Jaguars. 

The 49ers are surprisingly favored for that contest. A home game with the Buccaneers suddenly looks substantially less imposing than it did earlier in the season, though it will still be a challenge for a 49ers defense that has had more struggles than most anticipated. However, the defining stretch comes afterwards. 

If the 49ers can sweep Seattle either side of a road win over the Eagles, the West will essentially be theirs again and they should be right in the mix for the top seed. 

A split of games with the Seahawks might still be enough for the division but, if the 49ers want to prove they are the heavyweight everyone billed them as, they ideally need to come through that run with two division wins and at least a competitive loss to Philadelphia.

Things soften after that. The Rams and Cardinals have played the 49ers tough already this year, but the Niners will be expected to prevail comfortably against both. 

The Commanders are still playing hard despite selling Chase Young to the Niners at the trade deadline, but a road matchup with Washington won’t be expected to present many difficulties.

Beyond the games with the Seahawks and Eagles, it is the Christmas night clash with the Ravens that will be an additional barometer of where the 49ers stand in the ranks of the contenders, and Baltimore’s beat down of Seattle provided an illustration of just how difficult that game might be.

49ers favored to return from bye week in style vs. Jaguars

They’re surprising favorites.