The NFL is the ultimate "what have you done for me lately?" league in American sports, and nowhere is it more prevalent than in the NFC West. The Seahawks finished December 2-3 and narrowly missed the playoffs when the Rams won the division and the 49ers went on a five-game winning streak.
To the media, that means the Seahawks will be gunning for a top-10 pick in the upcoming draft while Los Angeles will face off against San Francisco for the NFC Championship.
Although I have already written about how I believe the Rams will have major boom-or-bust potential, they are undeniably a great team... at least on paper. They did bring in great players to upgrade their cornerback, defensive tackle, and wide receiver position groups. The excitement is well founded, in my opinion.
Where it is not is with San Francisco. Yes, the 49ers seem to have found their quarterback of the future in Jimmy Garoppolo and they have offensive guru Kyle Shanahan as their coach. I'm not disputing they might develop into a promising team in a few years.
But not this year.
How quickly we forget the fact San Francisco was a pathetic 1-10 last season before Garoppolo became the starter. I am well aware they won five-straight to close out the season... five straight against teams clearly phoning it in at the end of the year. They played a 5-11 Bears team with a head coach on the way out, a 4-12 Texans team without Deshaun Watson, and a Titans team with a banged up Mariota.
The best teams they faced in this stretch were the Rams, who were resting all their starters, and the Jaguars who had just completed their best three-game stretch in recent memory to win the division. In both instances, the Rams and the Jaguars already had their playoff tickets punched and seeding set.
The 49ers biggest free agent acquisition this offseason was former Seahawk Richard Sherman, who is coming off an Achilles tendon injury. No telling how Sherman will truly be as a player going forward.
Quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo looks to be the real deal, but the jury is really still out. Yes, he is 7-0 as a starter, but we just went over five of those wins. His other two came as a member of the Patriots during Tom Brady's four-game suspension in 2016. His first win came when the Arizona Cardinals missed a game-winning field goal, and his second was the following week when he left in the second quarter against the Miami Dolphins due to an injury. He didn't even finish that game!
Again, I'm not saying I believe he will be a bust, but we need to see more before we anoint him the next Joe Montana. It shouldn't be brushed off he threw five interceptions in five games. That is not a rate that can be sustained.
The point is, we need to cool it just a bit on our hype of the 49ers. Yes, they have a potentially promising future ahead. Yes, they could become a great team. But for now, let us all just a take a deep breath.
