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There are many who did not want the season to end last year and, in fact, are clamoring for the 2018 NFL regular season to begin - especially given the facts that San Francisco acquired a player who seems to have all the makings of a franchise quarterback, had young players coming along pretty nicely on both offense and defense, and ended 2017 on a five game winning streak.
Enter NFL.com’s Adam Rank, who recently shared his skepticism for every team in the NFC. He had this to say about the 49ers:
It was fun to watch Jimmy Garoppolo go on that five-game winning streak to close out last season. But you done [expletive’d] up, Niners. You could have entered this season as one of those floater teams nobody pays attention to, like the contestant who flies under the radar to make the finals of “Big Brother” or “The Challenge” or whatnot. Instead, you not only beat a series of playoff teams, but now your quarterback is out there talking about how he’s better than Tom Brady and dating well-known actresses. So, you won five games in a row to close out last season. This fall, you’ll win six games. Total.
Well, dang. If that isn’t a buzzkill then I don’t know what is. For starters, we all know that Jimmy Garoppolo just doesn’t lose (ask anyone on Twitter). Seriously, though, many people are very high on Kyle Shanahan and Co. - it’s understood that the point of the article is to be antithetical to what everyone else is saying but, truth be told, I have seen a decent amount of articles sharing similar doubts in regards to the Niners. Anything is possible but it’s hard to see things going this badly. Six wins would be the same level of success as last season’s team but, to many, would be considered a step in the wrong direction.
It’s fun to see the two extremes at play here but it also begs the question of what the exact worst-case scenario is for the 49ers this year. Barring any major injuries, do you think there is some validity to Adam Rank’s ‘unpopular opinion’ in his article?