To quote the great Ric Flair: “To be the man, you gotta beat the man.” That’s relevant when you look at the 49ers 3-0 start.
Being 3-0 in the NFL is impressive, but you have to remember that there are still 13 more games to play. Furthermore, those three wins are against teams that have a combined one win. Only the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have managed to squeeze out a single ‘W.’
There’s the Cleveland Browns, the Los Angeles Rams, the Green Bay Packers, you name it, but a lot of contenders. While the 49ers have been mighty impressive, even winning a game when turning the ball over five times (which never happens), one has to wonder just what we have with this team. There’s always that game, that game that shows everyone what the 49ers have for 2019. In 2011 for instance, that game was against the Philadelphia Eagles, where the Alex Smith-led 49ers came back from a deficit
So what game is it?
In some comments, I saw a lot of people wondering if it would be the Monday Night Football game in two weeks against the Browns. Of course, there was the counter of the Browns having the Baltimore Ravens this weekend and could go into the 49ers game 1-3. If the 49ers beat them, they beat a 1-4, or a 2-3 team. People are still going to say to pump the brakes on the 49ers.
The game that really seems like the game where the 49ers can be established as contenders? The Los Angeles Rams in Week 6. The 49ers don’t even need to win the game. The game is in Los Angeles and if the 49ers can hang in it until the end and lose by say, a field goal, that would indicate the 2019 49ers are far ahead of where they were in 2018. We already know they can beat lesser opponents. That much was proven with Tampa Bay and Pittsburgh. The 2018 49ers would have lost those games. The 2018 49ers also got blown outplaying the Rams. Twice.
For us to see what we really have with this team and where they sit in the NFC pecking order, Week 6 is probably the game to show us. I only hope it gets flexed out of the afternoon into Sunday Night Football.
Which game do you think, whether already played or upcoming, will tell us what the 2019 49ers are?