Assessing whether the 49ers truly are Super Bowl contenders

They certainly made a statement against the Rams.

Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

The San Francisco 49ers just pulled off one of the most impressive wins of the entire season.

With a national audience watching and with a little time off for fans to think about what just happened, you are going to hear about the 49ers in Super Bowl conversations this week. The question is whether this is justified. 

Can the San Francisco 49ers make a Super Bowl run?

San Francisco 49ers middle linebacker Fred Warner (54). | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

The first thought is, obviously. This is one of the best teams in the NFL, and their coaching staff has a good deal to do with it. They can face a lot of injuries, but they will always have that. They also have wins banked. 

The 49ers are 4-1 with three road wins and three division wins. That is mighty impressive, especially with two of their three division games being the road wins. Now, Seattle and Los Angeles will have to come to San Francisco and beat them. 

They are also about to get an influx of home games with a few fewer division battles. It is not everything, but it is enough to get them a touch healthier. 

The only reason most fans do not recognize the 49ers as a Super Bowl favorite is that their roster has yet to be complete this season. If they can get George Kittle, Brock Purdy, their entire wide receiver corps and a few others healthy in the next few weeks, they have a chance to make a run at the No. 1 seed. 

Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images

On the other end, you still wonder about the ceiling. The floor is significantly high, right with the talent that is budding and the coaching that is being done. However, Nick Bosa is not coming back. 

As good as the defense is, you have to wonder how many consecutive games they can string together against quality offenses before that starts to catch up with them. Bosa is not just any loss, and it is hard to see them surviving in the long term without him. 

While the saying has been that they will get healthy at some point, that is also a massive question. It is only Week 5, but in the first five games, they have only had more injury questions to deal with, not fewer. 

Even in sitting a group of players and getting the extra time off, the team still exited Los Angeles with a few new injuries. They are walking a fine line between being able to beat any team on any given night and facing so many injuries that they cannot make a run. It will be interesting to see whether they can get healthier or if their struggles continue.