Former 49ers wide receiver Braylon Edwards cleared waivers on Wednesday, according to a source. Edwards is now an unrestricted free agent, though he may not sign with a new team until the offseason. He was released on Tuesday three months after undergoing surgery on his right knee that limited him.

The 49ers may sign a wide receiver for the playoffs. Joe Hastings will likely play in Sunday's regular season finale, but the team has been in contract with at least one former NFL wide receiver they may be interested in signing. After wideout Joshua Morgan suffered a broken leg that ended his season, San Francisco worked out a group of wideouts that included Hastings and NFL veterans Brian Finneran, Chris Chambers and T.J. Houshmandzadeh.

Tom Brady is one of eight Patriots and Patrick Willis one of eight 49ers to make the Pro Bowl, the most on each roster. Defending Super Bowl champion Green Bay, led by starting quarterback Aaron Rodgers, and Baltimore, led by veteran linebacker Ray Lewis, have seven apiece for the Jan. 29 game in Honolulu. Brady is one of seven starters from New England. The others are receiver Wes Welker, tight end Rob Gronkowski, defensive tackle Vince Wilfork, defensive end Andre Carter, and guards Brian Waters and Logan Mankins all are starters for the AFC from the Patriots. Special teamer Matthew Slater is the other New England representative. Linebacker Willis, defensive end Justin Smith, cornerback Carlos Rogers and tackle Joe Staley will start for the NFC from the 49ers, who had only Smith and Willis make the Pro Bowl last year.

Braylon Edwards was released by the 49ers following surgery on his right knee earlier this season that limited him. Edwards tweeted the news Tuesday, attributing the move to his injury, which "required more time to rehab and hasn't allowed me to re-sync with the offense." The 49ers confirmed Edwards' release.

Seahawks executive Scot McCloughan claims that he was merely being light-hearted when he "predicted" a decisive Seattle victory over San Francisco to Yahoo! Sports. "It was done in a joking manner," McCoughan said. McCoughan was formerly the general manager of the 49ers. The article, written by Michael Silver, states McCloughan was laughing when he said, "They come to our place Christmas Eve, and we're going to beat the hell out of 'em."

An executive with the Seahawks expects the team to defeat the 49ers in their NFC West battle on Saturday. "They come to our place Christmas Eve, and we're going to beat the hell out of 'em," Scot McCloughan told Michael Silver of Yahoo! Sports. McCloughan, a senior personnel executive with Seattle, spent five years with San Francisco from 2005 to 2010 -- the last two as the 49ers general manager -- before he was abruptly fired by the team in March of 2010.

49ers coach Jim Harbaugh believes that quarterback Alex Smith belongs in this year's Pro Bowl. The 49ers are 11-3 and champions of the NFC West. "Alex has a great understanding," Harbaugh said about Smith's lack of turnovers. "Experienced player who understands situational football and good football and the difference between holding onto the ball and turning it over. He’s also been uncanny in the pocket." Smith hardly has the gaudy passing numbers or touchdowns of some of his fellow quarterbacks -- his 2,752 passing yards rank ninth in the NFC, and his 16 touchdowns are good for eighth; he also has been sacked an NFL-high 39 times. He owns a 61.4 completion percentage that's sixth in the NFC and has the fewest interceptions with five. "That's the low-hanging fruit," Harbaugh said. "Just go straight to the yardage line or the touchdown-passes line. I think that people that understand football understand that there's a lot more that goes into the job of a quarterback than those statistics."

The utility that supplies power to Candlestick Park is saying that investigators are still in the dark over the nationally televised power failure that twice delayed the "Monday Night Football" game between the 49ers and the Steelers. PG&E spokesman Jason King said he "spoke too soon" when he said investigators determined that a San Francisco-owned piece of equipment was responsible for the first of two blackouts.

Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger hobbled around on one leg against the 49ers on Monday night, throwing three interceptions in the process. "I was probably the best 49er tonight," Roethlisberger said after Pittsburgh's 20-3 loss. Roethlisberger wouldn't dwell on the postgame state of his injured ankle other than to say, "It hurts. I'll leave it at that." He never used the injury as an excuse when addressing the media.

Candlestick Park went dark twice during Monday night's game between the 49ers and Steelers. Two power outages delayed San Francisco's 20-3 Monday night win over Pittsburgh, first just before kickoff and again early in the second quarter after the stadium moved to a backup power source. The first outage pushed back the opening kickoff by 20 minutes. Thousands of flashbulbs went off in the midst of the blackness, with a sellout crowd of 69,732 sitting in darkness. The second delay came early in the second quarter and halted the game again between the playoff-bound teams for about 15 minutes.