There may not be a higher-variance team in the NFL than the 49ers going into this season. They’re coming off a trip to the NFC championship game and return virtually all of their top players from last year’s squad. A dramatic change with first-time starter Trey Lance taking over under center, and some question marks on the offensive line offer a high ceiling and low floor for the 49ers.
Predicting how they’ll finish requires a ton of conjecture since Lance is ostensibly a complete unknown at the most important position on the field. We gave it a crack in our way-too-early predictions after the schedule came out. Now NFL Media’s Adam Rank is giving it a try. Rank famously guessed San Francisco would go 3-13 in 2019 when they wound up going to the Super Bowl.
This year essentially any guess with the 49ers is valid, and a person’s prediction will say a lot about how much faith they have in Lance and San Francisco’s coaching staff.
