I feel like Jim Harbaugh and his coaching staff are such a huge upgrade to Mike Singletary and his staff, this year’s 49ers must be better than last year’s, right? The team was 6-10 last season, though, so a better team would have at least 7 wins. Can this team really win 7 games? I think they can, but I also think I’m being optimistic when I say that. The NFC West could be a pretty lousy division again, so the 49ers could go 4-2 in division games and 3-6 in all other games to get their 7 wins. (And a division championship?)
I love Jim Harbaugh and feel that the team finally has a strength, and not a liability, on their sideline. The coaches are probably smart enough to make in-game adjustments now, and not just scream at players to play harder. But I’ll admit, I thought Mike Singletary would be a huge upgrade from Mike Nolan too, so I could be wrong again. College coaches usually fare poorly in the pros. Harbaugh had Andrew Luck at Stanford, who at this age is probably already a better quarterback than Alex Smith. But Harbaugh has had head coaching experience elsewhere, unlike Nolan and Singletary. And Harbaugh’s football philosophy is more sound, too. His teams are physical, but also smart too. Singletary seemed to stress nothing but smash-mouth while I never could figure out what Nolan’s coaching philosophy was.
So, in the long run, I think Harbaugh is going to build success with the 49ers. But this season could be a tough one. The team is one play away from having Colin Kaepernick playing quarterback. That’s not exactly comforting. Will Crabtree ever meet the type? Can this secondary cover anybody? How much will the shortened training camp hurt? I’m looking forward to getting some answers during this Sunday’s season opener against the Seahawks.
I’m gonna go out on a limb and predict the 49ers will have at least 7 wins by the midway point of the season. It may not always be pretty, but I just know they can do it! I’ll follow up in about 8 weeks with my second-half predictions.
m.