(By Daisy Barringer)

It's been six days and the San Francisco 49ers are still the winners of the NFC West and headed to the playoffs. WHAT?

That being said, we (yes, I am totally on the team) still have a lot of work to do if we want to retain the 2nd seed and ensure home field advantage and a bye. New Orleans is on our ass with a 9-3 record, so while we want to avoid injuries and rest our starters, I can’t even actually think about that because first and foremost: we need to keep winning.

So how we gonna do that, huh? Well first things first, we need to beat Arizona in Arizona on Sunday. Should be easy, right? Let’s take a look.

The Bad

• The Cardinals have won four of their five last games. Someone give those guys a cookie!

• The Cardinals still have a chance to make it to the playoffs. (I’ll wait for you to stop laughing.) They do though, so, you know, that’s a big deal or something.

• Arizona plays us tough in their house. Fact.

• Cardinals defense looks pretty good. In the last five games, they’ve only allowed one rushing touchdown and five offensive touchdowns total. I look forward to the Niners changing that.

• Patrick Willis’ hamstring injury. No one is divulging just how hurt he is, but any time he’s not playing is bad news for the Niners’ defense.

• Alex Smith is airing it out more (which is good). But he’s still making some terrible throws (which is bad).

• Patrick Peterson leads the NFL in punt return touchdowns (bad). But whatever: Andy Lee (good).

The Good

• New Orleans is on our tail, but they have to play at Tennessee (7-5), at Minnesota (2-10), Atlanta (7-5) and Carolina (4-8.) The Niners play at Arizona (5-7), Pittsburgh (10-3), at Seattle (5-7), and at St. Louis (2-10). Wait. That was supposed to make me feel better but it totally didn’t. No offense Gwen Knapp, but maybe don’t say we’re playing two JV teams or that New Orleans’ schedule is substantially more difficult? You’re giving me false hope!

• Carlos Rodgers should be healthy enough to play on Sunday.

• Niners defense still haven’t allowed a rushing touchdown all season. (I get so nervous whenever I write that. Like how you’re not supposed to talk about a no-hitter while it’s happening.)

• Everything that’s always good: our defense, our special teams, Frank Gore, the coaching, momentum.

The Rest of It

I don’t like that everyone is overly confident about the Niners winning this one. There are a lot of x-factors (that’s such a stupid expression) at play and I honestly think this could go either way. Except that I totally think we’re going to win. Obviously.

Watch San Francisco at Arizona on Sunday at 1:05 p.m. on FOX KTVU (FOX 2).