The 2018 NFL regular season kicks off in a little over 48 hours, which means it is time for final predictions from around the media world. Sports Illustrated is the latest to have their writers put together predictions for the 2018 season.
You’ll be stunned to learn none of them have the San Francisco 49ers winning the Super Bowl. You can take a moment to recover from that news.
While there are no Super Bowl victories predicted, four SI writers predict the team will make the playoffs as a wild card. Greg Bishop has them earning the No. 6 seed and losing to the Minnesota Vikings in the wild card round. Robert Klemko, Mark Mravic, and Bette Marston all have them earning a playoff berth and winning their wild card game, before losing in the divisional round.
Each person also predicted who would win various awards. There was only one 49er mention, with Robert Klemko predicting Richard Sherman would take home the Comeback Player of the Year Award. Andrew Luck and Deshaun Watson led the way in that award, with J.J. Watt right behind them.
I imagine most of these predictions were compiled shortly before the Jerick McKinnon injury, but who knows how much that would impact what SI put together. That being said, I’m going to keep an eye out for more predictions because I wonder just how overvalued the 49ers are at this point. I’m not saying they won’t make the playoffs, but the optimism about this team, coming off the five-game winning streak after Jimmy Garoppolo entered the lineup is certainly something. We’ll see how folks are responding after a tough opening quarter of the season.