5 overreactions to 49ers’ embarrassing start to 2022 season
By Peter Panacy
Overreaction No. 3: 49ers playoff hopes are doomed
Right now, the 49ers don’t look like a playoff team.
But the playoffs aren’t determined right now.
Just like last season’s 3-5 start, the Niners took time to get things figured out, eventually riding that turnaround into a trip to the NFC Championship game few anticipated would happen after such a sluggish start.
Granted, the 2022 season is an entirely different animal, but one can probably assume the net talent level of San Francisco’s roster eventually “rights the ship,” especially with some much more favorable matchups on the horizon.
And it isn’t as if the 49ers’ odd start to the year is the outlier for teams expected to be in the playoff hunt.
The NFL is weird and fluky, so much so that GB/TB played to a 14-12 final and the Colts beat a SB favorite KC 20-17 and people are on here are nervous about a team that just lost 11-10 in week 3? They'll figure it out.
— Rich (@richjmadrid) September 26, 2022
The Niners wrapped up Week 3 with only two other undefeated squads in the NFC, the 3-0 Philadelphia Eagles and the 2-0 New York Giants to play on Monday night, meaning there isn’t a clear-cut crop of squads running away with the conference.
Sticking to the NFC West, should San Francisco enact some vengeance against the 2-1 Los Angeles Rams on Monday Night Football in Week 4, it’d be right atop the division once again.
Putting things bluntly, the slow start didn’t doom the 49ers’ playoff chances by any measure.