5 NFL teams setting up for a letdown in 2022 season
NFL team with way too high expectations in 2022: San Francisco 49ers
. San Francisco 49ers. 2. Scouting Report. Pick Analysis. . player. 42
The San Francisco 49ers deserve a ton of respect.
Kyle Shanahan has done an outstanding job of getting this team into the NFL’s final four twice over the last three NFL seasons, and bringing the Kansas City Chiefs within an inch of their lives in the Super Bowl a couple of years ago.
He did that with Jimmy Garoppolo at the QB position, and as much respect as Jimmy G. also deserves for his part in helping the 49ers reach that point, the 49ers have done more with less than just about any team.
So why shouldn’t we expect them to do the same thing in 2022?
As talented as Trey Lance is, you’ll forgive me if I’m slightly skeptical that the 49ers are just going to instantly return to the NFL’s final four in 2022 with a quarterback that has barely played any meaningful football since — checks notes — 2019.
Lance played in one game in the pandemic-impacted 2020 “season”, essentially an exhibition contest as a pre-draft showcase.
He played in six games last year with two starts.
For those keeping track at home, that’s a total of seven games played between 2020 and 2021. Although we’ve seen success stories with guys like Philip Rivers and Aaron Rodgers who sat for a while, Lance has not played consistently for three calendar years.
For that reason, if the bar is set at reaching the NFL’s final four again, I’m picking the San Francisco 49ers to fall short of expectations in 2022, though I’m also eagerly anticipating every game this team plays with all of the talent on the roster and their excellent coaching.