San Francisco 49ers: Why Their Record is Misleading

Sep 26, 2013; St. Louis, MO, USA; San Francisco 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh talks with quarterback Colin Kaepernick (7) during the second half against the St. Louis Rams at the Edward Jones Dome. The 49ers defeated the Rams 35-11. Mandatory Credit: Scott Rovak-USA TODAY Sports

The San Francisco 49ers haven’t had a terrific start to the 2013 NFL season. The fact that they were 1-2 made a lot of people think that starting Colin Kaepernick over Alex Smith and trading Smith was the wrong way to go. Then, after Kaepernick had a fantastic game against the St. Louis Rams, everyone said that Kap was back.

See how these things work?

The 49ers beat the Green Bay Packers, a team they’ve had success against recently, in Week 1. Weeks 2 and 3 were unpleasant for this young team as the Seattle Seahawks and the Indianapolis Colts blew them out.

Week 4 brought St. Louis, which isn’t a stellar team by any measurement. The Niners had a great game offensively and defensively in St. Louis, and they crushed the Rams 35-11. Faith in San Francisco was restored and everyone was on board with Kaepernick once again.

Despite being 2-2, this season isn’t bad at all. The 49ers record is altogether misleading. The Colts and the Seahawks are both poised to have terrific seasons, and those teams beating the Niners wasn’t nearly as surprising as many made it out to be.

The Colts and the Seahawks are ranked 9th and 13th in total offense, while the 49ers are only ranked 21st. Defensively, the Niners are 5th, but the Seahawks are right behind them in 6th, with the Colts sitting 10th. Even if the 49ers are higher than both of these teams, every defense can collapse on a given night, and both these teams have Top 10 defenses.

In the next five weeks, the Niners are set to play the Texans, the Cardinals, the Jaguars, the Titans, and the Panthers. The Titans are the only one of these teams having any luck this season, at 3-1, and they just lost their starting quarterback to injury. The Texans and the Cardinals are both 2-2, but because it is so early in the year it’s hard to tell how good any team is based on its record. Coming into the season, however, none of these teams besides the Texans were considered playoff material.

The 49ers only losses came to Seattle and Indianapolis, two highly acclaimed teams, who are 4-0, and 3-1 respectively. The first thing fans do when their team doesn’t get any serendipity is plunge into panic mode. But the 49er schedule is clearly about to become a lot easier, and now that they’ve “gotten over” the first couple hurdles, they’ll be just fine.

The Niners may be sitting on .500 — but it’s only going to get better from here.