When the first batch of NFL odds came out of Vegas earlier this year, the 49ers were listed as underdogs for all but one game: A Week 3 home matchup with the Los Angeles Rams.
The bar was set low before training camp was even in sight.
So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that former 49ers quarterback and current ESPN analyst Steve Young isn’t focused on the 2017 49ers’ win-loss record as much as he is the improvement they show as a squad. He conveyed as much on KNBR 680’s Tolbert & Lund a few days after a disappointing Week 1 showing by the hopeful 49ers and their new head coach, Kyle Shanahan.
“The other thing you don’t have is a reservoir of wins, and people saying behind you ‘you’ve had a lot of success.’ Everyone right now is new, there’s been some struggles and so there’s very little patience and so everyone responds that way. Like, ‘I’ve gotta do it now,’ and then that feeds it’s own problem. And so a game like this does not help relieve all those pressure points that get built.”
In Young’s eyes, the goal this season isn’t a specific win-loss record, it’s finding those moments that make fans, players, coaches — anyone with a rooting interest in San Francisco football really — feel hope. Maybe Seattle isn’t a likely place for a victory. But, if you want to measure yourself, what better place than possibly the hardest road venue in professional football?
“You’ll see it. Like I said, I told the team this year, ‘you want to be a tough out, if you’re gonna go down, people are gonna see this team’s coming.’ And then all of a sudden they can turn the corner. So you’ll see. You’ll go up there and things might not go great but you’ll notice it. You’ll be like, ‘this is a sharper team. This is a team that is getting it figured it out.’ And maybe that’s the best place to go find out if you can make those improvements. If you want to win, certainly going to Indianapolis right now is a better than going to Seattle. But if you want to go find out your improvements, there might not be a better spot than to go up there and see what you can do.”
Vegas certainly seems to agree with Young’s expectations, opening the betting line at 13.5 points in favor of the Seahawks. A line that was certainly affected by San Francisco’s inability to post more than a measly 217 yards of offense against Carolina last Sunday. The 49ers’ defense may have held its own Week 1 against one of the NFL’s elite quarterbacks in Cam Newton, allowing only 287 yards of offense and forcing a pair of turnovers, but the offense was abysmal at best.
If the 49ers hope to have a shot at even staying in the game Week 2 in Seattle, they’ll have to procure more than 51 rushing yards and keep their defense on the sidelines for more than the 34 minutes it spent chasing Panthers all over the field.