All 49ers

SI Picks the 49ers to Exceed Their Over/Under Win Total for 2024

The over/under for the 49ers' win total currently is set at 11.5, and Sports Illustrated's Gilberto Manzano has picked the over.
Grant Cohn|
Jan 28, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; (Left to right) San Francisco 49ers linebacker Fred Warner (54), quarterback Brock Purdy (13), offensive tackle Trent Williams (71), running back Christian McCaffrey (23), wide receiver Deebo Samuel (19), and tight end George Kittle (85) celebrate after winning the NFC Championship football game against the Detroit Lions at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 28, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; (Left to right) San Francisco 49ers linebacker Fred Warner (54), quarterback Brock Purdy (13), offensive tackle Trent Williams (71), running back Christian McCaffrey (23), wide receiver Deebo Samuel (19), and tight end George Kittle (85) celebrate after winning the NFC Championship football game against the Detroit Lions at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports | Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

In this story:

San Francisco 49ers

The 49ers just lost another Super Bowl, and yet NFL analysts remain confident that San Francisco will exceed expectations next season.

The over/under for the 49ers' win total currently is set at 11.5, and Sports Illustrated's Gilberto Manzano has picked the over.

"The 49ers have won at least 12 games the past two seasons, which they could achieve again with one of the best rosters in the NFL," Manzano writes. Talent has rarely been an issue for the 49ers the past five years, but they will have the mental challenge of trying to climb the mountain again after losing a second Super Bowl to the Chiefs. If coach Kyle Shanahan and the 49ers get off to another dominant start, perhaps this will finally be the year the Super Bowl drought ends in San Francisco."

Manzano makes some good points, but the 49ers have more than just a mental challenge to overcome. They also have the challenge of facing the Chiefs, the Lions, the Packers on the road, the Bills on the road, the Jets with a healthy Aaron Rodgers, plus the Rams twice. And it's no given the 49ers will sweep their four games against the Seahawks and Cardinals because those teams are improving.

I'd pick the under this season. The 49ers have the oldest team in the NFL and they've had the shortest offseason of any team other than the Chiefs, who are much younger than them. Trent Williams will turn 36 in July, and he hasn't played a full season since 2013. When he's out, the 49ers are just 3-6. So if he misses a month or two instead of a game or two, the 49ers are in big trouble.

Picking the over is betting on Williams' durability. That's a risky proposition.

Published
Grant Cohn
GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.

Share on XFollow grantcohn
Home/News