How good CAN we be?

We could be one of those teams that shock the world and win the Superbowl!

Originally posted by ninerfan4life:

Superbowl Champs good

This

Super Bowl? Probably not.....just to damn good to be true. NFC Title Game? Possible. Playoffs and 1 and done? All depends on seeding. One thing is for sure. If this group of players and coaches stays together for a good 5 years we will be in Super Bowl contention often.

Forget pre-season expectations.

We are playing to be the top seed in the West. Currently one game behind GB. Need to win home field because playing in GB in winter will be tough.

Good enough to be 12-4 and win opening round in playoffs. With a little luck playing the Pack for the Championship.

Originally posted by SunDevilNiner79:

Forget pre-season expectations.

We are playing to be the top seed in the West. Currently one game behind GB. Need to win home field because playing in GB in winter will be tough.

I think we're better suited for an ice bowl than the packers are honestly

If the team keeps playing like it has? The super bowl. Alex got his crap game out of the way. My expectations are high, but ill be happy just making the playoffs.

Man, I never thought coaching in this league was THAT big a deal. Damn, Jim. Take it easy on 'em.

Originally posted by drake49er:
If Alex can play at a high level...SB Champs.
If not...Perrenial Playoffs but no SB apperance.

On the money.

This team has reached the next level - respectability. Now the next challenge becomes how to perform at a high level, going into games as the FAVORITE. The "they-don't-respect-us" theme has served Harbaugh and team well to this point, but that theme won't cut it the rest of the season. The Niners will likely now be favored in at least 9 of its remaining 10 regular season games. The Niners simply devoured Detroit;s swagger, so perhaps they can get some mid-season mileage out of that.

Originally posted by Godsleftsock:

Originally posted by SunDevilNiner79:
Forget pre-season expectations.

We are playing to be the top seed in the West. Currently one game behind GB. Need to win home field because playing in GB in winter will be tough.

I think we're better suited for an ice bowl than the packers are honestly

haha, yeah. As soon as I posted it I thought we actually might be a pretty cold weather team

Originally posted by Whomeam:
You know, i'm excited to see what this team will do this season and it's been a loooooong time since i've been able to say that after week 6. I'm excited for this season... But i'm even more excited for the future seasons. Full offseason, training camp, Harbaugh now knows exactly what he has on this team and what we need... I just can't see what he shapes us into. Who he decides to keep, where he upgrades us, the free agent pickups, the next draft. Everything. If he can make this team look like this in the short amount of time he had, i'm excited to see where we are in the next 3 years.

This is more of what I am talking about. Not so much predictions for our record or what we will or won't do in the playoffs.

Rather, just thinking about what our team will look like as we continue to evolve. We have been pretty impressive and we still have many flaws. Plus JH has had limited time to really install his offense just as Fangio has only gotten started with his D.

I think we will get more out of our bye week than any other team, and then hopefully after a couple weeks of being coached up and having some very winnable games at home, we should continue to improve and gain confidence week to week.

This season couldn't have started out better. Because we have won and because it seems largely to be because of JH's attitude and efforts, whatever changes, improvements, corrections, etc... he implements over the next couple weeks, the team should buy in wholeheartedly.

Now the message is about improving and getting to the next level. And every player should be totally on board. Had we gone 3-3 or worse, or looked like we did in some of the preseason games, it would be about just getting things right so that MAYBE we can be successful.

Now the future seems unlimited and I can't wait to see what we look like coming out of the bye and beyond. As good as we have looked, we have as much room to grow as any team in the league, and I think Harbs is well on his way to helping us reach that potential.

Originally posted by jimbagg:
This team has reached the next level - respectability. Now the next challenge becomes how to perform at a high level, going into games as the FAVORITE. The "they-don't-respect-us" theme has served Harbaugh and team well to this point, but that theme won't cut it the rest of the season. The Niners will likely now be favored in at least 9 of its remaining 10 regular season games. The Niners simply devoured Detroit;s swagger, so perhaps they can get some mid-season mileage out of that.

Ted Robinson commented on KNBR that the team was different on the plane ride back this week as compared to the PHI game. After the PHI game, there was more of an excitement from the win but this time, it almost seemed as though they weren't surprised they won.

I think they already took the next step.

Originally posted by Joecool:
Do we really need to "open" up the offense? What we need to do is make sure the plays we run that hit the weakness of THAT week's opponent to perfection and that's about it.

I think "opening up the offense" is over rated. This league is all about coaches putting together a CORRECT game plan and the players executing that to perfection.

A lot of teams that "open up" their offense, I think, are over rated and one-dimensional.

I don't think the Niners, with just 7 weeks to install a pretty complex offense, are ready to "open it up" just yet either. They may not be ready until late in the season if at all this year.

The OL is clearly still learning the system, Alex showed yesterday he still is getting comfortable with it, and with the defense playing as well as it is, it really isn't necessary to risk turnovers by "opening up" the offense.

What is encouraging to me is that the OL seems to be starting to "get it"... Despite the penalties yesterday (some of which were debatable), the line is playing pretty well now. It is run blocking very well and Alex isn't running for his life on every drop back now. There has clearly been progress. As long as we can all see that progress, I'm cool with their approach. They are not giving the guys too much too soon. It is called good "game-planning" and it is working. Let's just enjoy the ride.

Cheers!

Honestly, a shot at the no. 1 seed is not out of the question. The interesting thing is, we may have already seen the "worse" of this team. The passing game will get better with Edwards in the line-up and this will give teams too much to worry about. I hope we do go for the number 1 seed, not only because I want us to win, but because I do not want to deal with the prospect of playing Green Bay on the road. The remaining games will be interesting to watch how much the offense will be even more potent with the addition of Braylon.