It’s five days until 49ers training camp-week begins! We want to look at each opponent and provide a reason for and against the San Francisco 49ers beating them. We’ve included a poll for the community to vote on whether they expect a win or a loss. We’ll see what kind of prediction this provides at the end.
Week 1 @ Minnesota Vikings
Week 2 vs. Detroit Lions
Week 3 @ Kansas City Chiefs
Week 4 @ Los Angeles Chargers
Week 5 vs. Arizona Cardinals
Week 6 @ Green Bay Packers
Week 7 vs. Los Angeles Rams
Week 8 @ Arizona Cardinals
Week 9 vs. Oakland Raiders
Week 10 vs. New York Giants
Week 12 @ Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Now to a game that’s going to have everyone glued to their TV set, the 49ers head to Seattle to face the Seattle Seahawks. Every year we hope that they could possibly walk out with a win (something not done since 2011) and every year either through blow-outs or the “Russell Wilson special,” with heaves, chucks, and running out of the pocket for yardage, the 49ers never get the job done.
This year that same optimism and hope returns, but with a difference: The Seahawks are rebuilding. In fact this rebuild may take some time. This means the 49ers chances have certainly gone up. Well kinda, the Seattle fans don’t know this and CenturyLink Field doesn’t get loud all by itself. Those fans take this “getting loud” thing very seriously.
Still, if the 49ers are going to beat Seattle in Seattle, this is as good of a chance they may get.
Reason For: The Seattle secondary
Remember the Legion of Boom? Well that secondary has been broken up. Cornerback Richard Sherman now plays for none other than the 49ers, and safety Kam Chancellor is retired. While the collective name was used for the secondary, some expanded it to the defense as a whole. If going that route, Michael Bennett has been traded to the Philadelphia Eagles and Cliff Avril has retired. We’re focusing on the secondary here, and it’s not looking too hot. Cornerbacks Shaquill Griffin and Byron Maxwell are decent, but Justin Coleman isn’t inspiring confidence. Neither is Bradley McDougald who will probably take Kam Chancellor’s spot now that the latter has retired.
This of course offers a nice scenario for Jimmy Garoppolo to chuck the ball around and test out this new secondary Seattle has put together. It’s just not as dominant as it once was and it now could become a vulnerability as the team begins to figure out the next route to go with it. Of course, as much as I want to say the offense can feast on some roster turnovers, there’ s no ignoring the elephant in the room, and that is...
Reason Against: It’s in Seattle
We all know the story: Century Link is loud. Like, really loud. This in turn affects offensive performance, especially an offense like Kyle Shanahan’s which has long names for simple protections and audibles. The result is typically a scaled back offense where the team can quickly check into simple plays/formations if everyone’s not on the same page out of the huddle. The other problem with the noise is the issues it causes with false starts and burning time outs extremely early.
Very quickly, all of the above puts an offense at a huge disadvantage. It doesn’t help when the crowd gets hostile and officiating crews need to keep everything in check and have backbones to do so. Shanahan’s offense may be the best in the league, but when it comes to Seattle, it may have to be basic. That Seattle secondary may have been broken up, but Pete Carroll is a good defensive coordinator and the distraction the crowd can get to the offense may be all he needs to put the 49ers in a tough spot
If you can’t see the poll, click here.