49ers must adopt these New Year’s resolutions in 2023

With a new calendar year just around the corner, the 49ers have to make sure they try to better themselves by adopting these New Year’s resolutions.

The San Francisco 49ers certainly and adequately addressed one of their (should have been) New Year’s resolutions heading into the 2022 calendar year.

That was to not wait until the final game of the regular season to clinch a playoff berth. Sure, that Week 18 overtime victory against the Los Angeles Rams was thrilling. But, to avoid the ulcers and stresses that came with it, clinching a postseason spot much earlier would be much nicer.

Thank you, Niners, for doing that this season. It’s made the last few weeks of merely watching the NFC playoff picture, and how it pans out, that much easier.

Head coach Kyle Shanahan can be thrilled at having locked up the division with weeks to go in the regular season. And he can be hopeful San Francisco winds up getting one of the first two seeds in the playoffs, too, as doing so would go a long way to secure home-field advantage for much of the playoffs.

However, let’s talk more about the 2023 calendar year as a whole and not just what’s around the corner in the postseason.

Since it’s New Year’s Eve, after all, it’s only fitting for Shanahan and the 49ers to come up with their new list of resolutions for 2023.

49ers New Year’s resolution No. 1: Don’t start off a season so slow

Going back to 2021, remember how that year’s Niners team started off 3-5?

It was turning into a wasted campaign, fans were calling for Shanahan to be fired. Yes, things were bad… awfully bad. And that start ultimately prompted the heart attack-inducing finish San Francisco went through to close out the regular season.

Granted, 2022 was nowhere near as bad. Yet the 49ers still got off to a slow start, highlighted by ugly losses to the lowly Chicago Bears and Denver Broncos in Weeks 1 and 3, respectively.

Overall, the Niners began the year going 3-4, a mere one loss less than how 2021 opened.

For 2023, Shanahan would be wise to resolve something like what happened back in 2019 when San Francisco started off the season 8-0. That’d be nice.