San Francisco 49ers: 10 Bold Predictions for the 2016 Season

The 2016 San Francisco 49ers aren’t likely to be a very good team despite the hiring of head coach Chip Kelly during the offseason. While this prediction is easy, let’s take a look at some bold predictions and gauge whether or not they may come true during the upcoming year.

It’s hard to imagine anything else but the San Francisco 49ers not being very good in 2016.

OK, so there are some building blocks and pieces in place. The Niners nabbed a few highly touted prospects in the 2016 NFL Draft, admitted promoting Jim Tomsula from defensive line coach to head coach was a mistake, spent the offseason restocking both sides of the line of scrimmage and hired head coach Chip Kelly to reinvigorate an anemic offense.

All this is fine and all, but San Francisco probably isn’t going to wind up seeing the postseason this year. And maybe not for a while. Rebuilds like this take time. And even while NFL parity is shaky at best, it’s hard to predict the 49ers being good any time soon.

So it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise to see experts looking at the 2016 Niners less than favorably.

Steve Palazzolo of Pro Football Reference came up with his 2017 NFL mock draft and had the 49ers picking fourth, which would mean this year’s record isn’t going to be very good.

Other experts aren’t veering too far from Palazzolo’s prediction either, in most cases.

But let’s stray from the common narrative for a moment. Instead of throwing out stale, easy-to-make predictions, let’s go bold.

So yes, here are 10 bold predictions for the 49ers in 2016.

And we mean bold.

Next: Colin Kaepernick Thrives Under Chip Kelly