Only a dozen teams fall below the San Francisco 49ers in the Bleacher Report’s latest Power Poll, the weekly list that gauges and ranks the overall strength of each NFL team. Coming in at 20th place on the edition released Wednesday, October 27, the Niners toil closer to the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Detroit Lions than they do any of the serious Super Bowl contenders.
They’re just ahead of the Seattle Seahawks, against whom they lost in Week 4, and behind the Carolina Panthers, who just got blown out by the New York Giants. Combined, those three teams are 7-13 this season.
“The San Francisco 49ers are in serious trouble,” the ranking synopsis said. “Winning the division is already a pipe dream. Getting to the playoffs isn’t going to be easy.”
The prognosis goes on to sum up what fans already know: The season began with real playoff aspirations as the team looked to put its injury-marred 2020 season firmly in the rear view mirror. But after Week 7’s messy loss to the Indianapolis Colts, the Niners have dropped four straight and have fallen so off the pace in the NFC West, it’s difficult imagining them catching up.
The solution to the season, Bleacher Report NFL Analysts Brent Sobleski concludes in the piece, is to bench QB Jimmy Garoppolo and insert rookie Trey Lance into the starting lineup. It’s a battle cry that’s getting louder and louder around the Bay Area with each passing week.
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Garoppolo’s Command of Locker Room Questioned
GettyJimmy Garoppolo’s command of the locker room was questioned this week.
But calls for Lance will have to wait at least one more week. Shanahan named Garoppolo the starter against the Chicago Bears on Sunday. The Bears, meanwhile, come in at 24th on the Bleacher Report ranking. Oddsmakers peg the 49ers as 4-point favorites when they play on October 31.
Former 49ers lineman Joe Staley was one among many in the Bay Area who publicly called for Lance to start. Staley said on a KNBR 680 interview on October 25 that Garoppolo wasn’t getting the job done, and called for a switch.
“You take the lumps right now, as opposed to someone who is eventually going to be gone, and then that way, you’re building towards the future,” Staley said.
Niners legend Steve Young also chimed in. He called the 49ers locker room “fraught with terror” during an interview with KNBR 680 on Wednesday, October 27. Young said the locker room feels that way in large part because the team doesn’t know or trust its quarterback situation at the moment. That level of uncertain spills into a sense of doom.
“I sensed in the game on Sunday, just against the Colts, I always think about who has the more resilient locker room,” Young said. “I’m watching the game, thinking about it, watching, and you can feel it. Maybe it’s just me, but I can watch and feel the resiliency. And I feel our locker room is not great, and I’m worried that it’s fraught with terror.”
Poll Puts 49ers in Unflattering Company
The 20th ranking on the Bleacher Report List is one spot lower than what the 49ers held last week, 19.
Aside from the starting quarterback situation, there’s the development, or lack thereof, of WR Brandon Aiyuk that’s perplexed the San Francisco fanbase. All in all, those are the organization details that magnify to mountains of chaos when a team struggles, which the 49ers are.
Who’s San Francisco’s company at the bottom level?
Seattle comes in at 21, the Minnesota Vikings at 22, the Atlanta Falcons at 23, the Chicago Bears at 24, followed by the New York Giants, the Philadelphia Eagles, The Washington Football Team, the Miami Dolphins, the New York Jets, the Jacksonville Jaguars and, finally, the Houston Texans.
Arizona, the Los Angeles Rams and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers comprise the top three. But, according to Bleacher Report, at any rate, the 49ers are closer to Jacksonville than they are to the NFL’s upper echelon.
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Prominent Poll: Only 12 Teams Worse Than the 49ers