Predicting the 49ers record: Will San Francisco win more games than they did in 2019?

Last year when we predicted the San Francisco 49ers record 52% of fans thought the Niners would win between nine and ten games. Coming in cold turkey and with all the injuries, I thought the team would go 8-8 and 2020 would be the year San Francisco takes a jump. That happened in 2019. Fast forward a year later, and the Niners made the Super Bowl and are in a prime position to come out of the NFC again if all goes well. After going through the schedule, here are my predictions as I’m 300% more familiar with the team.

Week 1 vs. Arizona: WIN — Kyle Shanahan has a few months to prepare for Vance Joseph. Week 1 games tend to favor the teams that are better coached, and ones still aren’t implementing a new system—Niners by a touchdown.

Week 2 @ New York Jets: WIN — Sam Darnold against good defenses are predictable. Sam Darnold, against great defenses, is what the internet would describe as “NSFW.”

Week 3 @ New York Giant: WIN —- The 49ers will face a much tougher schedule this year, and it’ll start with Saquon Barkley. He won’t be enough for New York as the 49ers cruise to a 3-0 start.

Week 4 vs. Philadelphia: WIN — Back to back NFC East games, and this one is on Sunday Night Football. The Eagles will make it interesting and keep the game competitive. This will be the 49ers’ first true challenge of the season, reminiscent of the Steelers game last year.

Week 5 vs. Miami: WIN — San Francisco will be riding high after four straight wins to open the season and will have a scare as rookie QB Tua Tagovailoa impresses with his mobility and the Dolphins catch the 49ers looking ahead. Talent prevails as the 49ers comeback late and steals a victory.

Week 6 vs. the Rams: WIN — Another Sunday night game, and this time it’s against a divisional foe. Sean McVay sees cracks in the 49ers defense from the week before and the Rams score more than any other team to date. Unfortunately for Los Angeles, their quarterback throws it to a Niners linebacker to change the game again. This time, it’s Dre Greenlaw.

Week 7 @ Patriots: LOSS — The 49ers have been playing with fire for three weeks in a row, and with the Patriots coming off a bye, New England wins in a sloppy, low-scoring game to hand the 49ers their first loss of the season. That week at Niners Nation will feel like the team is 1-6.

Week 8 @ Seattle: WIN — Seattle catches a ticked off Niners’ squad after a week of Richard Sherman drumming up motivational tactics only Richard Sherman can come up with. Seattle just faced the Cardinals after a short week against the Vikings and come into this game reeling and leave the game in worse shape. This game will be Brandon Aiyuk’s coming out party that propels the offense for the rest of the season.

Week 9 vs. Green Bay: WIN — I’m tired of pretending the Packers are a threat to the 49ers, and I’m not going to do that here. It’s a Thursday night game, so the short week helps, but nowhere near enough. San Francisco by double-digits.

Week 10 @ New Orleans: LOSS —It’ll be tough to follow up last year’s fireworks that led to a thrilling 48-46 game, but we’ll get pretty close in New Orleans. These are two of the best teams in the NFL facing off, but Emmanuel Sanders gets his revenge, and the Saints are the ones that make the game-winning kick as time expires.

Week 11 - Bye

Week 12 @ Rams: WIN — After a much-needed bye week, the 49ers come back rejuvenated and take it out on the Rams in their first appearance at SoFi Stadium. It took the bye week for Kyle Shanahan to realize Raheem Mostert is good, who knew.

Week 13 vs. Buffalo: WIN —The first team to score wins in this matchup as two of the better defenses face off late in the season on Monday Night. Both play-callers are calling the game not to make a mistake as opposed to trying to score, and it shows. Josh Allen goes full Josh Allen and bails the 49ers out of a Jimmy G mistake as the 49ers win.

Week 14 vs. Washington: WIN — Google Washington’s roster. Even in a tough stretch, the 49ers don’t have anything to worry about at home.

Week 15 @ Dallas: WIN — This will be one of the most exciting back and forth games we see all year. Dak comes to play on Sunday night, but he can’t outduel Jimmy. The score is in the 30s for both teams, but a late score and a big game from George Kittle put the game out of reach.

Week 16 @ Arizona: LOSS — This game will be a doubleheader on Saturday once it’s all said and done, and the 49ers are out of gas on a short week. This game is the Cardinals Super Bowl as they pull out all of the stops and trick plays to pull off a late-season upset as San Francisco gets caught overlooking Arizona.

Week 17 vs. Seattle: WIN — I don’t think Week 17 will come down to a winner takes all or even the final play, but it’ll be an entertaining bout nonetheless. This time around, it’s the offense that bails out the defense, and the 49ers lock up the No. 1 seed in the playoffs.

Final record: 13-3