Niner Noise
FanSided

5 critical problems 49ers could face in 2020

By Robert Morrison

Richard Sherman #25 of the San Francisco 49ers talks to teammate Emmanuel Moseley #41 (Photo by Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images)
Richard Sherman #25 of the San Francisco 49ers talks to teammate Emmanuel Moseley #41 (Photo by Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
1 of 6
Next
Jimmy Garoppolo, 49ers
Jimmy Garoppolo #10 of the San Francisco 49ers (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images) /

Even though the outlook is good for the 49ers, let’s look at five possible problems that could prove critical for 2020.

The San Francisco 49ers head into 2020 with something that hasn’t really been part of their offseason in a long time: high expectations.

Sure, there were some ideas they could be playoff dark horses heading into the 2018 season, fueled mostly by the addition of quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo late in the 2017 campaign, causing many pundits to predict that the Niners might be poised to shock the league.

But after Garoppolo’s knee injury derailed that season, there was little reason to think they’d be any good in 2019. Lo and behold, the team not only outperformed all expectations by winning the NFC West and representing the NFC in the Super Bowl, but they did so using a dominant defense and a strong running game.

Not exactly the most modern of formulas for success.

Still, after falling just short of the ultimate NFL prize, the 49ers head into 2020 as contenders, not only in the NFC, but to win the Super Bowl having maintained much of the team that was so good last season.

That doesn’t mean the 2020 season will go off without a hitch, however. This is the NFL, after all, and unexpected occurrences take place every year, which means what looks like a season full of promise in June can quickly fall off the tracks and into disaster come September or October.

With that in mind, let’s take a look at five critical problems that the 49ers could face in 2020. These aren’t predictions, so much as they are potential things that could happen to turn the Niners from contenders to also-rans in 2020.