The season was a pleasant surprise at 13-3 and winning a playoff game at Lambeau. Sweeping MIN and CHI may have been my favorite part. But the underlying concerns beneath the "ugly wins" were not misplaced. They beat some teams they maybe shouldn't have and found ways to win in close contests. But we should really look at why those wins looked ugly and why things came down to the wire as often as they did.
On D, we added a bunch of sacks and pressures, even some turnovers. Also had some good bounces go our way. But the yards given up was a hard stat to shake. So was the ranking vs. the run. There's also the fact this team was at close to a 100% for the whole year and played a lot of games where the opponent had starters missing. You can beat a lot of teams that way. Unfortunately SF was not one of those teams.
Gauging this team is tough. Is it better than 14 other teams in the conference but not in the same league as the 15th? SF truly has a stacked roster, full of high picks, mostly in their first contract. That's a lot of talent and youth and their cap is not too shabby. They're going to be around for the foreseeable future. So you really have to use them as a measuring stick. I don't know how you get there without drafting in the top 10 or top 1/3 for 3 years and hitting on a lot of picks. Gute has had two drafts and 3 guys have played significant snaps. That has to improve. He'll also have to be active in FA this year. But he can't rely on that every year unless he wants to start pushing money out.
The good news is we have a QB, LT, WR and RB that is as good a combo as any. However half of those guys are closer to the end of their career than the beginning. There is not much time to waste. We also have a DT, two edge rushers, a CB and two S you can win with.
I don't have any answers short of finding impact players at WR#2, ILB, DL, and OL. I thought the team was on it's way to long lean years when MM was hired and Farb was looking more and more like a liability every year. Never would have guessed we'd be in the NFCCG in MM's second year, and with 4 at QB. We could see the same turnaround with the current team. Stranger things have happened.