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Heavy lies the NFC West crown, as the 49ers are learning rather painfully this season.
After cruising without a sweat to the division crown last year, Jim Harbaugh’s team has had a much rougher go of it this time around and will be nursing more than a few wounds tomorrow night when it plays host to the Bears at Candlestick Park.
Fresh wounds, too, as the Niners’ mildly embarrassing, 24-24 home tie with the Rams last week included quarterback Alex Smith exiting early with a concussion and was followed by Harbaugh himself missing practice time late in the week because of an irregular heartbeat.
Harbaugh and Smith are expected to be back in their respective spots for “Monday Night Football,” with each of them anxious to put a rocky week behind them and put some distance between San Francisco and the rest of a much-improved division.
The Niners are 6-2-1 and boast the NFC’s top-ranked defense, but as the Rams under new coach Jeff Fisher showed last week in a game St. Louis had a golden chance in overtime to win, San Francisco isn’t going to coast through the regular season this year.
Although the Rams are improved, the Seahawks are the bigger concern. Seattle is 6-4 and surging under rookie quarterback Russell Wilson, a development that should make what already was a difficult test for the Niners — the arrival of the 7-2 Bears — even more tension-inducing.
Harbaugh’s club, however, did catch a break courtesy of Texans linebacker Tim Dobbins, whose dirty hit on Jay Cutler last Sunday sidelined the Bears QB for tomorrow’s game.
Cutler is 6-1 all time on Monday night, but the fact he will be replaced by the feckless Jason Campbell — who could do nothing in the second half of that eventual 13-6 loss to Houston — means a Chicago victory would qualify as a major upset.
With NFC sack leader Aldon Smith (9 1⁄2) leading the charge against the overmatched Campbell, don’t look for a Bears win to happen.
PICK: 49ers, 24-7.
CONTENDERS
Packers (6-3) at Lions (4-5): QB Aaron Rodgers and Green Bay return to Ford Field for the first time since the infamous Ndamukong Suh foot-stop game last Thanksgiving, a game that ended in a 27-15 Packers victory. The outcome was par for the course in this series, considering Green Bay has won 20 of the past 23 meetings. Rodgers, who is practically unstoppable in domes, no doubt will be even more intent to make it 21 out of 24 because a Packers victory combined with a Chicago loss tomorrow night would move Green Bay into a first-place tie in the division.
PICK: Packers, 28-27.
Chargers (4-5) at Broncos (6-3): A loss today wouldn’t eliminate San Diego from playoff contention, but the Chargers certainly are headed in the wrong direction and have Norv Turner fighting for his coaching life. The normally mild-mannered Turner got testy with reporters this week, which makes sense considering he and the Chargers have to find some way to stop a truly resurgent Peyton Manning (21 TD passes against just six interceptions) and the streaking Broncos on the road. Even though San Diego has won its past three visits to Denver, Manning isn’t going to let the Chargers make it four in a row.
PICK: Broncos, 31-10.
bhubbuch@nypost.com