Will our offense be better than our defense next season?

I think the offense is ahead of the defense with all the defensive turnover and such.

Both can be top units. I think we can assume Cowboy isn't retiring at this point. Just my opinion, but he continues to visit the facility from all reports and hasn't announced he will be yet.

Even if he goes, assuming what we've seen from our backups and we remain relatively healthy our defense can remain a top unit. We need a lot of question marks to be answered. Cowboy stays, Bowman comes back 100% and the rest of our guys play to their potential or relatively close to it. We're going to need to hit on a couple draft picks to feel truly comfortable though.

Offensively we have a big play threat finally not named VD. Just shifting our philosophy will yield results similar to what we saw a couple years ago if not better with the personnel we have. If we incorporate screens and the short passing game effectively our offense can be a top tier unit. Colin is incredibly difficult to defend for any defense if we're letting him run. We deliberately went away from that last year.

i've expected this scenario year after year, and the offense never fails to disappoint. so not getting my hopes up.

Our offense lost iupati maybe Crabtree both were ok players but can be replaced, Crabtree already has, frank was great but hunter is coming back and we have bush and hyde. Our offense aside from losing a great running back didn't really lose much.

People talk about all the defensive turnover but forget about the replacements Baalke had ready to go.

Willis would be a huge loss but he's replaced by Bowman.
McDonald is easily replaced by Dockett.
The DL has Carradine, Dial, Dorsey, Jerod-Eddie, Williams returning, not to mention Ramsey and Okoye, who could well be a sleeper this season.
Willhoite was a full-time starter last season and the 49ers turned down requests from other teams about him. He's a solid "replacement" for Borland with Mood and Skov in the wings to replace Skuta.
Replacing Cox and Culliver is not a problem. Brock returns, along with Dontae Johnson, Acker and Reaser, two outstanding prospects, and Cook and Ward.
The safeties are solid with Bethea and Reid.
Tomsula called this DL the deepest he has had since coming here in 2007.
...and, Justin Smith is still hanging around camp...
What's this about a weakened defense?

The offense probably won't be better than the defense, but hopefully the defense can stay at least a top 10 defense and the offense turns into a top 10 offense. That would probably make for a pretty good year.

This isn't the sort of call I want to make before the draft.

And the only losses that cause me any pain at all are Willis on the D and Frank on the O, and I was half expecting Frank. The others, no. Obviously, still waiting for Smith's decision.

The offensive will improve more than the defense but I still think the defense will be top 5. Offense will be top 15.

stats wise? I think we give up more points and score more points.

Wins? That's all I care about.

If every game is like the SD game last year who really cares about stats?

We lost the greatest ILB duo and possibly an all time great DE J. Smith... I believe our offence will have to be Top 10 to make playoffs

Originally posted by kezarvet49:

People talk about all the defensive turnover but forget about the replacements Baalke had ready to go.

Willis would be a huge loss but he's replaced by Bowman.
McDonald is easily replaced by Dockett.
The DL has Carradine, Dial, Dorsey, Jerod-Eddie, Williams returning, not to mention Ramsey and Okoye, who could well be a sleeper this season.
Willhoite was a full-time starter last season and the 49ers turned down requests from other teams about him. He's a solid "replacement" for Borland with Mood and Skov in the wings to replace Skuta.
Replacing Cox and Culliver is not a problem. Brock returns, along with Dontae Johnson, Acker and Reaser, two outstanding prospects, and Cook and Ward.
The safeties are solid with Bethea and Reid.
Tomsula called this DL the deepest he has had since coming here in 2007.
...and, Justin Smith is still hanging around camp...
What's this about a weakened defense?

I'm with this guy. Let's be honest had TWO all-pro middle linebackers, how many teams die for 1. If Bowman comes back legit, that's what I'm waiting on.

Top 10 offense and top 10 defense = 49ers Super Bowl 50 Champs

Originally posted by ChazBoner:

i've expected this scenario year after year, and the offense never fails to disappoint. so not getting my hopes up.

Agree. If our offense does better than our defense, we are going to have a very good year. I still see the offense unable to sustain drives, covert on critical plays, and take charge in the final two minutes, which we have lived with the past few years. If our offense had been equal to the defense the last few years, we would have a couple more Super Bowls wins right now. It's not so much how the offense does statistically, it's how they do when the pressure is on and the game is on the line(this is what I want to see.)

I think they will regress a bit. Too much changeover of key players. I don't think we will be terrible, but we will probably be somewhere around 12-15.