2010 Offseason NFC Power Rankings: Where do the 49ers stack up?

…that has to overcome an awful lot of mediocrity and old age.

I would go…

1. New Orleans Saints
2. Dallas Cowboys
3. Minnesota Vikings
4. Green Bay Packers
5. Atlanta Falcons
6. San Francisco 49ers
7. Philadelphia Eagles
8. Washington Redskins
9. New York Giants
10. Arizona Cardinals
11. Carolina Panthers
12. Seattle Seahawks
13. Chicago Bears
14. Detroit Lions
15. St. Louis Rams
16. Tampa Bay Buccaneers

I think the Lions and the Rams are interchangeable. I think Bradford can be as good as Stafford, and I think Bradford will get hit a whole lot less than him, and have a much better running game, and a better defense. The Panthers should do OK. There’s some decent teams here, but not enough wins to go around.

… put Dallas @ 16 , juz can’t help it … and for their stadium to fall into a sinkhole …!!

I think the 49ers should rank somewhere in the 10 range. I think we CAN beat just about anyone, if not anyone, in the NFL but I don’t think we’re consistently better than 9 other teams…Talk to me again about week 6 thru 8.

Here’s my rankings:

1. New Orleans Saints
2. Green Bay Packers
3. Dallas Cowgirls
4. Minnesota Vikings
5. Atlanta Falcons
6. San Francisco 49ers
7. Philadelphia Eagles
8. New York Giants
9. Arizona Cardinals
10. Carolina Panthers
11. Washington Redskins
12. Detroit Lions
13. Chicago Bears
14. Seattle Seahawks
15. St. Louis Rams
16. Tampa Bay Buccaneers

I could have switched a few teams around and been perfectly happy with it: AZ and NY, Carolina and Washington.

1. Saints
2. Packers
3. Vikings
4. Cowboys
5. 49ers
6. Falcons
7. Giants
8. Panthers
9. Redskins
10. Eagles
11. Cardinals
12. Lions
13. Bears
14. Seahawks
15. Rams
16. Bucs

1. Green Bay Packers – The NFC team to beat (dang it). Improved OL, a top 5 QB, a Def more comfortable in the 3-4. And they can comfortably play in the cold Giants Stadium weather in the Super Bowl.
2. New Orleans Saints – Contender, but whether its the SB hangover or lack of the magic they had last year, no way they repeat as the top NFC team.
3. Atlanta Falcons – Turner missed 5 games last year, Ryan missed 3. And they still went 9-7. If those two stay healthy, this team could go far.
4. Minnesota Vikings – Contender, but over-ranked. No Farve = no magic. Farve = age will show this year. Good Def & Off weapons, but QB takes them out.
5. Dallas Cowboys – Contender, but Romo still can’t win out. Wade Phllips is a joke. Mediocre team despite JJ’s money.
6. San Francisco 49ers – Put them at #1, or #10 or #16. It all hinges on Smith.
7. Carolina Panthers – Strong running game, strong Def unit. If QB comes thru, might contend.
8. Washington Redskins – Hard one. But Shanahan is worth a mid-NFC slot here. Might bust out, but just might bee a team to watch.
9. Philadelphia Eagles – As a Niner fan spoiled at the QB position for years with Montana and Young, I know first hand how disappointed Eagle fans are about to be.
10. Arizona Cardinals – Leinart. Enough said.
11. Seattle Seahawks – Not this year. But soon, I’m afraid.
12. New York Giants – An 8-8 team in 2009 did nothing to get better this year. They are on the decline. Owership figures to sell seats by offering a new stadium, not a better team in 2010.
13. Chicago Bears – Julius Pepers? So. They should have done something about a sucky OL.
14. Detroit Lions – Interchangable
15. Tampa Bay Buccaneers – Interchangable
16. St. Louis Rams – Interchangable

are rated too high. the bears suck. n the eagles will fold. i wouldn’t be surprised if kolb gets benched for vick. i think the eagles will be at the bottom of their division for the first time in a long time.

Cause I’m being serious. I’m aware I have Vikings at 1, and I honestly think they are. Panthers are going to have a good year. Think Cowboys are being way overhyped (Packers slightly overhyped)

1. Minnesota Vikings
2. New Orleans Saints
3. Green Bay Packers
4. Dallas Cowboys
5. Carolina Panthers
6. Philadelphia Eagles
7. San Francisco 49ers
8. Atlanta Falcons
9. New York Giants
10. Seattle Seahawks
11. Chicago Bears
12. Arizona Cardinals
13. Washington Redskins
14. Detroit Lions
15. St. Louis Rams
16. Tampa Bay Buccaneers

1. Dallas Cowboys – WHY? As much as I hate to say it, they are here because the Vikes can’t be, they blew the ncf championship due to fumbles and Favre’s magic will run dry this year.
2. Green Bay Packers – I did make the comment about the Vikes owning these guys, but with a gapig hole in the front 4 after the suspensions come down and plenty help needed in the back 7 the Vikes slip under the Pack.
3. Atlanta Falcons – NFC South is so up and down every year, Brees on the front cover of Madden has him droping along with the team in fantasy and overall. league play
4. San Francisco 49ers – Homerism? Naw, it is but it isn’t, we thumped the best int he division for the past few games, nw is time ot lay down the law. 49ers were right there with the best in the league and will be right there when it’s all said and done this year.
5. Washington Redskins – The Shocker, McNabb has a running game for the first time ever. he has a TE and some mediocre WR’s, sounds like Philly to me.
6. Minnesota Vikings- They had an unfortunate miss at the big one and the chance will not come back, can you say 20 INT’s Brett, I CAN!!
7New Orleans Saints – Superbowl hangover, they are still partying right now in NOLA. Madden curse to boot, sorry NO, SF spanks that ass in week 2.
8. Carolina Panthers – Maybe should be ranked higher, they have two unproven options at QB, but no Delhomme is HUGE for them. They could easily be 5 or higher this season.
9. Arizona Cardinals, I know they lost a lot, but they have a good coach who brough in key players in the offseason, I see them splitting with SF this season. Linehart will not be asked to be Kurt Warner, but Beanie Wells has to be healty for this to work.
10 New York Giants not much to say, over-rated QB and it’s obvious Spags should have been kept as HC.
11. Seatlle Seahawks
12. Philadelphia Eagles – Too young on both sides of the ball.
13. Detroit Lions – Better than 15th
14. Da Bears – Do I need to comment?
15. Tampa Bay Buccaneers, may not be the cellar dwellar this year, but WILL NOT mak th eplayoffs.
16. The Rams and this will be the last year they are here, but hey, they are here.

I don’t see why the 49ers could not at best, go 14-2…and here is why:
They could (and probably should) sweep the division. That would be 6 wins right there. Keep in mind 5 of their last 8 are division games, with 3 of them at home.

They play OAK, NO, PHI, DEN, TB at home, and could win all 5 games, which brings us to 11 wins.
They play at CAR, KC and ATL, which will all be tough, but again are possible wins, and since we are exploring reasonable possibilities, we are at 14 wins…
It might be too much to ask to go to GB and SD and expect wins, and so the easy thing to do is saddle them with these two as losses….14-2

At worst? Well, lets explore pessimistic possibilities:
I think they are just too good to split the divisional games, so we’ll say 4-2 in the division, losses perhaps away at SEA and maybe even a surprise loss at ARI.
NO might come into town and dispell all these SB hangover curses. They are a good team, lets not forget.
Away games at KC, ATL and CAR, as mentioned previously, will all be tough, they should get at least one of them…putting them at 5-5.

OAK and TB at home should not be losses at all, so we’ll give the Niners 2 more wins, but PHI and DEN could be tough, and worse case scenerio we give 2 more losses, putting them at 7-7…
At GB and SD? Well, also mentioned previously, these will be tough, perhaps the toughest games all season with playoff implications around each game, so once again we’ll go with 2 more losses, putting us back at the old familiar 7-9…yuck.

So let’s be reasonable and find a middle ground, with this roster and this schedule; I am willing to realistically say 10-6, maybe even 11-5, good enough for maybe a 3 or 4 seed, with the division and playoff spot wrapped up by a week 14 home win vs SEA.

Of course, Alex Smith might have something to do with all this…