49ers FanPulse: That was the low point of the season

Welcome to SB Nation FanPulse — a survey of fans across the NFL, powered by SurveyMonkey. Each week, we send 32 polls to 100+ plugged in fans from each team. 49ers fans, sign up HERE to join FanPulse.

This weeks FanPulse was the lowest of the year, after the 49ers fell to the Falcons last Sunday.

Results headed into Week 16

How we got here:

• At the end of the season, unsurprisingly, 49ers fans were only 81% confident in the direction the team was headed.
• Things took a turn for the better after free agency, as that number climbed to 95%.
• Before the draft, the number dipped to 84%, and climbed two percent after the draft, to 86%.
• Heading into the preseason, we started sipping the Kool-aid again, and that number climbed to 90%. Now, with real football here, that number is at 89%. That’s the 11th highest number out of all team sites.
• Following the Week 1 victory over Tampa Bay, we’re up two percent, which brings us to 91%.
• After blowing out the Bengals, the confidence soared to 96%.
• After defeating the Steelers, despite turning the ball over five times, we’ve bumped that number up to 98%.
• With a bye week, that number may have dipped, or even plateaued. Not here. Up 1% to 99%
• Despite blowing the Browns out, our confidence dropped from 99% to 96%. The loss of Kyle Juszczyk and Mike McGlinchey should explain that.
• After dominating the Rams, that number jumped back up to 99%.
• The confidence poll dipped to 96% after the Mud Bowl. Evidently, style points matter when it comes to voting.
• Scoring 51 points against a top-5 defense brought that number back up to 99%. This was headed into Week 9. I’ll be interested if the 49ers defense having an off game will reflect the voting in next week’s FanPulse.
• No issues with the defense after a divisional win. The confidence is up 3% to 99%, which is the third-most of any team sites after the Ravens and Saints.
• After the Niners’ first divisional loss, the confidence dipped all the way to 97%. With everything that went wrong, that’s fair. There shouldn’t be too much overreaction until we see all the things that frustrated us consistently.
• Despite gifting the Cardinals 16 points, a game-winning touchdown toss to Jeff Wilson put San Francisco ahead, and a late defensive score made the score look worse than the game really was. A divisional win always feels good, and that’s why we are back up to 99%
• After destroying the Packers from wire to wire, everyone that participated in this week’s survey was confident in the direction of the team. For as much as we talked about the gauntlet of the schedule the 49ers faced, that was a heck of a way to start things off. The confidence poll is a perfect 100%
• The 49ers kept it close with the Ravens and probably should have won. There are no moral victories in the NFL, but the team showed they are one of, if not the best in the league. The confidence poll for this week dropped from 100% to 99%.
• The game of the week ended 48-46, 49ers. With that, they stay at 99% for the second week straight. The 49ers can play anywhere as they showed the last two weeks with the Ravens and the Saints.

Week 15 saw the vote of confidence dip to 91%, which is the lowest number since Week 1 of the preseason. It’s easy to be disappointed in the team after last week. San Francisco blew a nine-point lead. That won’t happen again.

We’re fifth, Field Gulls is sixth at 80%. They were at 58% last week. Revenge of the Birds is tenth, as they climbed up to 65%. Turf Show Times fell off a cliff, going from 81% to 18%. We’ve been the most steady team all season, besides Baltimore Beatdown and Canal Street Chronicles. Wonder why?

The national question was, “which team will dominate the NFC South in the next decade. The Saints received over 95% of the votes.