Adam Rank endured a lot of criticism—and sometimes mockery—from the Niner Faithful last season after predicting that the San Francisco 49ers would finish with just three wins. The team ended up finishing with just three regular-season losses and the No. 1 seed in the NFC.
Rank has been a good sport about the underestimation of Kyle Shanahan's squad, at one point, even calling himself "an idiot." He's owned up to the mistake and continues to laugh about it.
With the full 17-week NFL schedule now revealed, the entertaining NFL Media analyst spoke with Mark Willard on KNBR Thursday night and offered up his first early 2020 prediction for the 49ers, all while remembering his 3-13 prediction from a year ago.
"Mistakes were made," Rank joked. "There were circumstances that have yet to reveal themselves."
So what does Rank predict for San Francisco's opener at Levi's Stadium against the Arizona Cardinals?
"Yeah, they beat you by 21 points," Rank responded.
Of course, he was joking. After a pause, he changed the predicted result to a win.
Rank then predicts an ugly 49ers win against Frank Gore and the New York Jets, and then improving their record to 3-0 with a victory over the New York Giants. That also puts the 49ers at the 16-game win total that Rank predicted for the team last year.
Rank has the Niners' first loss of the season coming at home during Week 4 against the Philadelphia Eagles, but then reeling off a trio of wins against the Miami Dolphins, Los Angeles Rams, and New England Patriots.
Then comes the 49ers' first matchup against the Seattle Seahawks. Rank has San Francisco splitting this series, losing this road matchup but making up for it with a home win during Week 17.
The 49ers bounce back with a win against the Green Bay Packers but fall to the New Orleans Saints in Week 10 before the bye week.
San Francisco returns to work with victories over the Rams, Buffalo Bills, and Washington Redskins.
Then you have a road game against the always-hyped Dallas Cowboys, where Rank has the 49ers dropping their fourth game of the season.
"I would have the 49ers favored if this were in Santa Clara," notes Rank.
The analyst then has the Cardinals upsetting the 49ers in a road win, and you already know his Week-17 pick. He had a tough time with the final game against Arizona, though, and kept going back and forth with it.
So that's 11-5 for the season (or 12-4 if they sweep the Cardinals), which is still good enough to win the division, according to Rank's early predictions. He's already done the entire NFC West and has the Seahawks in second place within the division at 9-7, the Cardinals at 8-8, and then the Rams bringing up the rear.
"They're going to be good," Rank said. "I understand that 11-5 is two games worse than last year, but you're the team now. You're the team that everybody wants to beat.
"This is the game that the Cardinals, and Eagles, and the Rams — not the Packers (who Rank envisions being bad) — but the Saints, all the good teams are going to be like, 'We need to win this game.' So, I think there's going to be a little bit extra there."
You can listen to the entire conversation with Rank below.
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