49ers have a Monday to enjoy

Black Monday once was practically an annual event for the 49ers.

Coaches fired. Mutual ways parted. Failure admitted. Reboots launched.

Not on this Monday. This day after the regular season was Rainbows and Unicorns Monday for the 49ers.

The 49ers are back in the playoffs after a fiveyear absence. They are the No. 1 seed in the NFC for the first time since 1997, when Steve Young faced off against the Packers’ Brett Favre. They are able to prepare and heal all week and sit back Sunday and find out who their opponent will be in the NFC Divisional game on Jan. 11 at Levi’s Stadium.

The bounty of this season is a direct result of the decisions made on a Black Monday (actually a Black Sunday night) on Jan. 1, 2017, when general manager Trent Baalke and head coach Chip Kelly were fired.

So, take heed, Cleveland and Washington, New York and

Carolina, possibly Dallas and Jacksonville. It’s not easy to get it right.

Three years ago, the 49ers finally got it right. Jed York got it spectacularly correct.

This stunning turnaround from league bottom feeder to top seed was the work of the two men York finally hired after whiffing twice on head coaches. The course correction after the embarrassingly dismal seasons following the departure of Jim Harbaugh.

Head coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch celebrated with a bear hug on the sideline in Seattle on Sunday night, a welcome image after the tense interactions between Baalke and the various coaches who worked for him. Shanahan and Lynch have, from all appearances, worked flawlessly as a tandem.

They have put together a talented and closeknit team, have coached it up, have made the players believe, have broken them of bad attitudes and bad habits, have created a unit that has set no limits on itself. The 49ers have done the unpredictable and seemingly impossible all season, so why not go and win the division in Seattle?

Sunday night was essentially the first playoff game of the postseason. And the 49ers should be well prepared for whatever dramatics lie ahead.

That’s because they have become the cardiac kids of the NFL.

As the team pursued the No. 1 seed in the NFC, it was forced to go full throttle the entire way. Each of the 49ers’ final five games was essentially decided on the final play of the game.

Baltimore: a loss as time expired. New Orleans: a win as time expired. Atlanta: a loss in the final two seconds. The Rams: a win as time expired. And a defensive stop in Seattle with nine seconds to play.

“The more you can be in those games — though it’s not always the most fun thing to go through every single week — the stronger it makes your team,” Shanahan said Monday during a conference call.

“Those are intense situations. They (the players) are used to it, comfortable with it. You would like to make it a bit easier, but I think our team is comfortable and doesn’t mind those situations at all.”

Is it better to be lucky than good? The 49ers have been both: very, very good. but also occasionally lucky, as they were in Seattle on Sunday night. The 49ers caught a break when the Seahawks couldn’t get Marshawn Lynch onto the field in time on 2ndandgoal from the 49ers’ 1yard line and were penalized for delay of game. They were possibly lucky again when pass interference wasn’t called on Fred Warner in the end zone, a noncall that had NFL types taking sides all day on Monday.

But teams have to be in position to take advantage of their breaks, and the 49ers have put themselves there all season.

Along the way, the 49ers have become the league’s most entertaining team. And their potential opponents could make for a dramafilled postseason.

Could Seattle be coming back to Levi’s Stadium on Jan. 11 for Round 3 in a divisional playoff game?

If the 49ers could win that, could they be hosting New Orleans in the NFC Championship Game, in what would be a rematch of the best game of the season?

If they make it to the Super Bowl, could they face the Ravens in a repeat of the dramatics on Thanksgiving weekend?

The 49ers have 12 days to prepare, their first break since the bye week of Sept. 29. They have been on a roll for three months.

Is there any chance that this chance to catch their breath and heal their bodies could interrupt their momentum and rhythm? Not likely.

Besides, this is not the time for negative thoughts. Not on Rainbows and Unicorns Monday.