With the 2018 season winding down, Niner Noise takes a look at the San Francisco 49ers’ five best storylines from this season despite a lot of disappointment elsewhere.
The 2018 NFL season is winding down. And at 3-10, the San Francisco 49ers can’t exactly feel good about their efforts despite pulling off an impressive upset win over the Denver Broncos in Week 14.
2018 officially became about 2019 once quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo went down with a season-ending ACL injury way back in Week 3. That was one disappointment. And the slew of other notable injuries only compounded all that went wrong for head coach Kyle Shanahan and Co. this year.
That said, the Niners have enjoyed more than a few good storylines over the course of 2018. For starters, despite the woeful record, there hasn’t exactly been the discontent and locker room dysfunction associated with many a scuffling franchise. That’s credit to Shanahan keeping his team together through difficult times.
On top of that, San Francisco has enjoyed more than a few standout individual performances this season.
One such storyline barely missing the top five is rookie wide receiver Dante Pettis who, after starting off slow, has emerged as a legitimate pass-catching weapon the past few weeks, picking up four touchdowns the last three games and amassing five on the year — a new 49ers record for a rookie wideout, according to 49ers.com’s Joe Fann.
If Pettis’ recent hot streak extended longer, he’d be on the top five. Since it isn’t too long, he barely misses the cut.
Here are the top five 49ers storylines in 2018.