Why the 49ers Won't Make it to the NFC Championship in 2023

Expectations of the San Francisco 49ers in 2023 will be to once again make it to the playoffs. The Super Bowl will surely be their goal, but the NFC Championship is their floor, especially with how it ended this past season for them.

I think it is likely that the 49ers will make it back to the championship game again, but things can always change. I'm going to play devil's advocate here as to why the 49ers won't make it back to the NFC Championship in 2023.

Much like with my point for why the 49ers will return, it is also the same reason that can see them miss out on returning. The core of the 49ers is led by fairly injury prone or aging players. The health and sustained high level of play are crucial for the 49ers to go far in 2023.

Christian McCaffrey, for instance, is coming off a tremendous season in which he managed to play the whole season for the first time since 2019. That possibly could prove to be an outlier season for him with his health. He can easily miss time in 2023, and despite being active for every game, it is not like he was fully fit. Several games saw him nursing something. And yes, the 49ers have depth at running back to get by, but that depth is Elijah Mitchell who is also injury prone. Jordan Mason will be the only running back left with impact ability.

Then there is Trent Williams who could always decline with his performance due to age or miss significant time with an injury. He's already been missing some games the last two seasons, so that might be a trend that is going to be set for him going forward. Deebo Samuel is another who always misses time along with George Kittle. All of these players are crucial to the 49ers' success, and they are proven injury prone players who the 49ers could be without for a long stretch of a season.

Defensively the 49ers are sound with their core players in relation to injuries aside from Arik Armstead. It really just stems with the offense, who by the way will have two starting quarterbacks nursing and recovering from serious injuries. Trey Lance and Brock Purdy can easily find themselves back in the training room to rehab injuries this season given their early pattern of getting injured.

The 49ers can easily replicate 2020 all over again. It may seem unlikely given how constant the injuries were occurring, but there is actually a decent chance it could go down. Like I said, the bulk of their core players are fairly injury prone, so they can always go down and miss time at a moment's notice. It doesn't even need to be during a game. They can easily turn up injured in training camp or in practice during the season.

So, while I believe the 49ers will make it to the NFC Championship for a third straight year, I am also concerned that they will miss it and have a replicated 2020 season all over again.