In the NFL playoffs, it pays to have a week off.
The 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs will square off in Super Bowl LIV on Feb. 2 in Miami, and they're proof. As ESPN's Field Yates tweeted Monday, San Francisco and Kansas City are just the latest teams to advance to the Super Bowl after earning a bye in the divisional round.
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The NFL changed playoff formats in 2002 after the expansion Houston Texans joined the league. Twelve teams qualify for the postseason: Four division winners and two wild cards in each conference.
The top two seeds' dominance has been a staple of the league's 32-team era. All 18 Super Bowls have featured at least one team who had a bye on wild-card weekend, and 11 have included two teams.
The 49ers narrowly earned a bye this season. San Francisco's Week 17 win over the Seattle Seahawks and Dre Greenlaw's season-defining tackle that narrowly clinched the NFC's No. 1 seed. Had the 49ers lost, they would have started the postseason on the road against the Philadelphia Eagles as the conference's No. 5 seed.
That would have set up a road date with the Green Bay Packers or New Orleans Saints in the NFC Divisional Round, and then -- in all likelihood -- another with one of the Packers, Saints or Seahawks in the NFC Championship Game. The 49ers only would have hosted the conference title game at Levi's Stadium if the No. 6 seed Minnesota Vikings also made it to the NFC Championship Game.
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Such a road would've been much more perilous than the one the 49ers ultimately took to the Super Bowl, and it's easy to envision San Francisco not making it under those circumstances. The 49ers can thank Greenlaw for a more manageable path to the Super Bowl.
And, potentially, a sixth Lombardi Trophy if the 49ers can beat the Chiefs.
Programming note: NBC Sports Bay Area feeds your hunger for 49ers Super Bowl coverage with special editions of “49ers Central” all week (5:30 p.m. Monday and Wednesday; 8:00 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday; 6:00 p.m. Friday).