Optimistic reasons why 49ers bounce back from slow start to 2022

The 49ers have gotten off to a rocky start to begin 2022, yet there are plenty of reasons for optimism and hope after three lackluster weeks.

The San Francisco 49ers could and should easily be a perfect 3-0 to begin the 2022 campaign.

Take away a couple of blown coverages from the Week 1 loss to the Chicago Bears, then eliminate just one of the multitude of mistakes made by quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo and the offense in Week 3 against the Denver Broncos, and the Niners would likely be undefeated right now.

At 1-2 after three games, though, they’re not. And in some regard, this is a double-edged argument that cuts both ways. On one hand, San Francisco didn’t win those two games, and that’s ultimately what counts, but it’s not like we’re talking about a completely inept and/or overwhelmed squad under head coach Kyle Shanahan.

The fewer the problems, the easier it should be to clean things up.

It’s easy to be pessimistic about the 49ers’ sluggish start to the season, especially amid the high hopes Shanahan and Co. originally carried into the new year and after the dreadful Sunday Night Football loss to Denver.

Outside the typical “it’s a long season” argument, though, there are plenty of other optimistic reasons to suggest the Niners rebound nicely moving forward.

Reason No. 1: 49ers traditionally start slow under Kyle Shanahan

Fans may recall San Francisco’s worrisome 3-5 start last season. Once Shanahan opted to stick with Garoppolo as a full-time quarterback instead of periodically mixing in then-rookie Trey Lance, things leveled out relatively well.

Now, the 49ers were forced to do that again, albeit under very different circumstances in the wake of Lance’s season-ending ankle injury in Week 2. Yet the bigger takeaway is the fact Shanahan’s Niners teams haven’t gotten out to the best of starts during his head-coaching tenure.

2019’s 8-0 start during that year’s Super Bowl run was quite the outlier, but one might recall how San Francisco managed just 256 yards of total offense in Week 1 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers that season, and it needed the defense to shoulder the road victory.

With Garoppolo’s first start of 2022 coming in Week 3, and in the wake of him not having a full training camp or preseason to jell with his teammates, one can safely assume things won’t be anywhere near as bad as they were against the Broncos last Sunday.

Certainly not all season long.