Former running back Roger Craig won three Super Bowl championships with the San Francisco 49ers from 1984-89. Craig also made a bold prediction about the NFL team that drafted him in 1983 out of Nebraska according to Nancy Gay of Fanhouse.com. "The 49ers will be a playoff team this season. I'm making that prediction," said Craig, a finalist for the Pro Football Hall of Fame's Class of 2010. "They were 8-8 last season. You saw what happened. "They should have beaten Minnesota (Week 3; 27-24 loss; Brett Favre led his 40th game-winning comeback drive), they should have beaten the Colts (Week 8; 18-14 loss; Joseph Addai threw a game-winning touchdown pass to Reggie Wayne), they should have beaten the Texans (Week 7; 24-21 loss; backup quarterback Alex Smith intercepted by Texans free safety Eugene Williams with 36 seconds remaining), they should have beaten Seattle (Week 13; 20-17 loss; Smith passed for 310 yards and two touchdowns, Seahawks kicked the game-winning field goal). "So that's 12-4 right there. Those four games could have changed the season around. They were that close. I think they're going to be very strong contenders this year." "You think about the division -- Kurt Warner isn't with Arizona anymore, so they're going to rebuilding, and Anquan Boldin is gone," Craig explained. "And [coach] Pete Carroll is going to have a tough time [in Seattle] the first year. He's not going to come out of the gate really dominating the West. "So the 49ers are the perfect team to annihilate the NFC West. And they've got the right ingredients right now." Source: NFLHouse.com
Its so hard not to get my hopes up...after 2006 we were very excited but the offense never got going. Now its 2010 and people are saying the 49ers are going to win the west....we'll see.
I think it's theirs easy if they can get anything approaching decent play out of Smith, which would surprise me. They've definitely got a playoff-caliber defense and most of the pieces of a playoff offense, especially with the Oline overhaul. I hope they dont for selfish reasons. I don't want to be hearing about how freaking wonderful the 49ers are again from all the 9er fans I know.
well, i think many feel that the 49ers should be the favorite in this division. however, i don't like people just flat out saying, 'they WILL win the division'. there are way too many things that can happen in an nfl season and craig pointed some of them out regarding the 49ers 2009 season. if the bounces go against the 49ers again or if Gore, Staley and Willis all go on I.R., the Cards could easily win this division again, even with a crappy QB.
