At last, regular season football has arrived. In the inaugural game of the John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan era, the San Francisco 49ers are set to take on the Carolina Panthers in Week 1. Here is the preview with the latest news, X-factors, injuries and much more.
Here we are. Finally, meaningful football is actually happening. No more games filled with third and fourth-string players. These games count in the win-loss column. It’s been a long wait, 252 days to be exact, since the red and gold last played a regular season game.
To open the season, the San Francisco 49ers face the Carolina Panthers in a Week 1 home matchup. For the 49ers, it’s been a long buildup to this point. The team decided it was time to completely clean house this offseason, resulting in the firing of general manager Trent Baalke and head coach Chip Kelly.
In came John Lynch as general manager and Kyle Shanahan as head coach, both first-timers at their respective positions. During their short tenure heading the San Francisco organization, the pair have been busy trying to scrub away the past and lay a new foundation for the future.
And the results have been fairly impressive so far. The 49ers entered free agency near the top of the league in terms of cap space, signed a bunch of players at needed positions, and still enter this next season with top cap space. The NFL Draft was a success as well, with Lynch maneuvering his way to secure two first-round selections.
Those picks were used on defensive lineman Solomon Thomas and linebacker Reuben Foster. Thomas and Foster both appear early on to be special players — and San Francisco is counting on it too.
That is just part of the front seven the 49ers will employ this coming season, an area that has been of intense focus for the team these past couple years.
With almost an entirely new offense and bolstered defense, this San Francisco team is different than last season.