3 reasons the 8-0 49ers win the NFC West in 2019
By Peter Panacy
The San Francisco 49ers are a perfect 8-0 halfway through the 2019 season, yet there are still doubts whether they can win the NFC West. Here are three reasons why the will.
There’s a pretty good chance the unbeaten San Francisco 49ers wind up winning the NFC West this season.
At the halfway mark of 2019, the Niners find themselves an unblemished 8-0 following their Week 9 Thursday Night Football win over the Arizona Cardinals. Yes, head coach Kyle Shanahan will face some serious adversity in the second half of the season, particularly after losing linebacker Kwon Alexander to a season-ending pectoral tear. And the schedule gets considerably tougher during Weeks 10 through 17, too.
According to Football Outsiders, San Francisco owned an 86.8 percent chance of winning the NFC West, along with a solid 50.8 percent chance to secure the No. 1 overall seed in the NFC after their win Thursday night.
And yet there are still doubters.
NFL.com recently ran a panel trying to predict Super Bowl LIV winners, along with division winners and other rewards. San Francisco received only three out of 26 votes to pull off a Super Bowl win, which is fine. But the more-surprising part was the Niners getting just 19 votes to win the NFC West this season. The Seattle Seahawks received seven.
Seattle entered Week 9 trailing San Francisco by two games in the loss column. Facing off against the 49ers on Monday Night Football in Week 10, a Seahawks loss would seriously jeopardize any chance head coach Pete Carroll’s squad would have to catch Shanahan and Co. in the division race.
That’s one reason why the Niners secure the division once 2019 is said and done.
Here are three others to consider for the still-unbeaten 49ers squad.