After watching the Seattle Seahawks sneak by with a six-point victory over the one-win Tennessee Titans on Sunday afternoon, and the Los Angeles Rams destroy the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday night, the San Francisco 49ers obviously know it's in their best interest to walk away from their Monday Night Football matchup with the Carolina Panthers with a win to keep pace in the NFC West race.
And with the Detroit Lions surviving a scare from the New York Giants in a 34-27 overtime victory, the Niners simply have to win on Monday night to avoid falling out of the final Wild Card slot.
Over the past few years, seeing Carolina on the schedule was a great thing for any team, as it essentially equated to about as close to a guaranteed victory as you can get in the NFL. But these aren't your same old Panthers, who after combining for just seven wins over the last two seasons, enter this matchup at 6-5 and would actually take possession of first place in the NFC South with a win.
One of the main reasons for the Panthers' turnaround this season has been their ability to run the football, as rising star Rico Dowdle and Chuba Hubbard have helped Carolina to the ninth-ranked rushing attack in the NFL at 127.1 yards per game.
And that doesn't bode well for a Niners team that has had its fair share of problems stopping the run, especially since Fred Warner went down with a season-ending ankle injury.
So, this could certainly hinder San Francisco's ability to pick up a victory in this primetime battle.
49ers face big challenge in containing Panthers' rushing attack on Monday night
Through the first five weeks of the season, with Warner in the lineup, the 49ers surrendered just 3.6 yards per carry on designed running plays between the tackles, allowing 0.9 yards per carry before contact and stuffing opposing rushers for no gain or a loss 20.8 percent of the time.
Since then, however, with Warner out of the lineup, San Francisco has allowed 4.2 yards per carry on those same types of interior rushes, surrendering 1.3 yards before contact and seeing their stuff rate dip down to 9.5 percent.
The little silver lining is that Dowdle, who enters this game as the league's eighth-leading rusher with 833 yards, which is all the more impressive due to the fact that he didn't get his first start until Week 5, has been better when going to the outside, averaging 6.3 yards per carry in that regard, as opposed to 4.2 yards per carry going to the inside.
Nevertheless, Dowdle has still had success going inside, and the fact that Warner's replacement, Tatum Bethune, won't be on the field Monday night after suffering a high-ankle sprain against the Arizona Cardinals last week, won't help matters, as that thrusts Curtis Robinson, who's taken only about 12 percent of the Niners' defensive snaps this season, into the starting lineup.
The 49ers also need to be careful when the Panthers line up in 11 personnel (one running back, one tight end, three wide receivers), as Dowdle has averaged 6.3 yards per carry and gained 546 yards when in this grouping, the second-most in the league. The good news here, however, is that San Francisco has allowed just 4.3 yards per carry, only 2.8 yards after contact per carry, the fourth-fewest in the NFL, and is one of just three teams not to have allowed a rushing touchdown when facing 11 personnel.
So, this will certainly be an interesting situation to watch as the game progresses. If Dowdle gets going early, it could be a long night for the Niners' defense.