I got this Vernon Davis quote from this morning’s Chron. Heres’ Davis on how the Niners and not Seattle should be in the playoffs:

“We really deserved that. We had the better team. We were better than anybody — anybody we played. We were just as good if not better. But we just couldn’t pull it off.”

Davis is expressing an interesting philosophical position. “He is an essentialist.” He is saying the 49ers are a playoff team in spite of what they did, in spite of  their record. He is saying the record is not a true indicator of their greatness. They are terrific in spite of their record and that terrificness is who they really are.

Some philosophers would disagree — certainly the Existentialists would. They say you are what you do; you create your own essence. In this case, I’m with the Existentialists. The Niners stunk and that’s who they are and that’s why their season is done.