The San Francisco 49ers picked up their second win of the season on Sunday when they traveled to Soldier Field and pulled off a 15-14 victory. While anyone on the team will tell you that wins trump draft status, the team's projected place in next year's draft order took a minor hit.
A New York Giants win over the Oakland Raiders would have secured (for at least another week) the 49ers' spot at number two overall. The Raiders beat the Giants by a touchdown. While New York's strength of schedule, which is the only tiebreaker before a coin flip, increased slightly from earlier that morning, it wasn't enough to surpass the 49ers'.
The result of Sunday's games (perhaps) temporarily places the 49ers slightly below the Giants due to both team's strength of schedule through 13 weeks of games. Of course, this is based on a projection if the season were to end today -- which, in case you were wondering, it does not -- and doesn't take into account the remaining games to play. The strength of schedule could still fluctuate in a manner that eventually favors the 49ers.
The number one spot still belongs to the Cleveland Browns, who looks very likely to end the season with the top pick.
How high the 49ers will actually select will be determined by the rest of the season and their final record. The 49ers have the Houston Texans, Tennessee Titans, Jacksonville Jaguars, and Los Angeles Rams remaining on their schedule while the Giants have the Dallas Cowboys, Philadelphia Eagles, Arizona Cardinals, and Washington Redskins on theirs.
Below is the current draft order, based on playoff seeding (21-32), record, and strength of schedule (SOS) for all 32 first-round spots if the season ended today. Of course, the order of the bottom 12 teams will eventually be determined by the playoff results and Super Bowl winner.
Draft chart confirmed by Lance Zierlein, a draft analyst for NFL.com, and his publicly available data.
| Team | W-L | SOS | |
| 1 | Cleveland Browns | 0-12 | .539 |
| 2 | New York Giants | 2-10 | .493 |
| 3 | San Francisco 49ers | 2-10 | .500 |
| 4 | Denver Broncos | 3-9 | .517 |
| 5 | Indianapolis Colts | 3-9 | .521 |
| 6 | Chicago Bears | 3-9 | .587 |
| 7 | Tampa Bay Buccaneers | 4-8 | .528 |
| 8 | Cleveland Browns (from Texans) | 4-8 | .538 |
| 9 | Arizona Cardinals | 5-7 | .493 |
| New York Jets | 5-7 | .493 | |
| 11 | Miami Dolphins | 5-7 | .542 |
| 12 | Washington Redskins | 5-7 | .583 |
| 13 | Cincinnati Bengals | 5-6 | .444 |
| 14 | Los Angeles Chargers | 6-6 | .451 |
| 15 | Oakland Raiders | 6-6 | .458 |
| Dallas Cowboys | 6-6 | .458 | |
| 17 | Buffalo Bills | 6-6 | .517 |
| 18 | Detroit Lions | 6-6 | .531 |
| 19 | Green Bay Packers | 6-6 | .542 |
| 20 | Atlanta Falcons | 7-5 | .535 |
| 21 | Baltimore Ravens | 7-5 | -- |
| 22 | Carolina Panthers | 8-4 | -- |
| 23 | Seattle Seahawks | 8-4 | -- |
| 24 | Jacksonville Jaguars | 8-4 | -- |
| 25 | Buffalo Bills (from Chiefs) | 6-6 | -- |
| 26 | New Orleans Saints | 9-3 | -- |
| 27 | Tennessee Titans | 8-4 | -- |
| 28 | Los Angeles Rams | 9-3 | -- |
| 29 | Pittsburgh Steelers | 9-2 | -- |
| 30 | Philadelphia Eagles | 10-2 | -- |
| 31 | New England Patriots | 10-2 | -- |
| 32 | Minnesota Vikings | 10-2 | -- |
* 21-32 based on projected playoff seeding, not record or strength of schedule
** Trades show the record of the origin team
*** Teams with similar records and SOS will have a coin flip as a tiebreaker
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