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What Chance do the 49ers Have at Winning the NFC West?

A wild card berth is sufficient, but not the goal of the 2022 49ers. Their sights will be to win the NFC West division.

Making the playoffs last season was quite the achievement for the 49ers.

They came back from what looked like a hole impossible to climb out of, to becoming a team that barely made it in. 2022 is going to be another year of attempting to be playoff contenders after the great playoff run they had.

Any team will be satisfied making the playoffs by any means, but the priority is always winning the division. The 49ers stood no chance winning it last year given how far back they were. This year is a clean slate and a chance for them to reclaim the division title for the first time in three years. DraftKings sportsbook has the 49ers as +150 favorites to win the division, which is second-best after the Rams (+125). The Niners are slightly trailing the Rams as the lead favorite, which means people believe it is a toss up between the two teams.

So what chance do the 49ers actually have at winning the NFC West?

I’ll give them a decent chance, but not as close as the odds are saying between them and the Rams. I think it’s a lot steeper than that. The 49ers are definitely the likeliest team to win the division after the Rams, so that’s accurate and agreeable. Seattle is a joke and the Cardinals can’t be taken seriously. It’s really a two horse race between the Rams and Niners. To put a percentage on it, I would say the Rams have a 70 percent chance to win it, while the 49ers have a 30 percent chance.

Los Angeles has quite a few holes on its team as opposed to last year, but so do the 49ers. Most importantly, the Rams have a top-10 quarterback in Matthew Stafford who can make up for those holes. Can Trey Lance do that? That is a mystery that will have some light shed on it throughout the season. Plus, the interior offensive line is concerning, which has always held the 49ers back if it wasn’t polished. It could be the reason Lance struggles and the run game is inconsistent at times.

Now, if the offensive line is decent and Lance plays well, then suddenly the race for the division will look neck and neck. It’s just hard for me to put more trust in the 49ers than the Rams, especially if Deebo Samuel isn’t utilized the same as last year. Their defense will still be great, so that will keep them afloat. It is the offense that really is the loose end here, and the variables are all over the place. I would love nothing more than to see these variables cleared up as a non issue to make for an intense playoff race, but I’m going to short the Niners here.

What chance do you give the Niners to win the NFC West?