Things can change very quickly in the NFL.
After two consecutive losses and a 1-3 record, the 49ers last week were in danger of seeing their 2014 hopes spin down the drain. Then they beat the Eagles to get back to .500, and suddenly the optimism and smiles are back at 49ers headquarters this week.
With a victory over the Kansas City Chiefs this Sunday, Jim Harbaugh’s group will have some momentum and get right back into the NFC West race.
The Niners under Harbaugh, after all, are 43-16-1 and rebounded from a 1-2 start last season to get to the NFC Championship Game, then came a play away from going to the Super Bowl.
Now the 49ers are one of 13 teams in the league at 2-2 with still 12 games remaining to be played. It’s been a so-so start, and their season still could go either way.
But one national analyst, former Cowboys executive Gil Brandt, who now writes for NFL.com, believes the Niners will be just fine. Though they’ve looked horrible in losses to the Bears and Cardinals – especially in second-half collapses in those games – Brandt believes the 49ers are a sure thing to turn things around.
“Folks have questioned this defense, but the Niners have given up the second-fewest yards per game in the NFL thus far – and that’s without injured linebacker NaVorro Bowman or suspended pass rusher Aldon Smith,” Brandt wrote this week. “Smith is due back in Week 11 – in plenty of time for a tough five-game season-ending stretch that includes both Seahawks contests and matchups against the Chargers and Cardinals. Despite the recent headlines about Jim Harbaugh, I am emphatically not worried about the coach. I’ve known him since he was about 5 years old, and I know he’s an overcome-all-obstacles type of guy.”
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That same message was coming out of the 49ers locker room this week, too. Though media stories had focused on the 49ers’ struggles and reports that Harbaugh had lost the faith and backing of his players, members of the team said they’ve regrouped and are totally behind their coach.
Bowman, watching from the sidelines Sunday, was impressed by the defensive job in holding Philadelphia and 2013 NFL rushing leader LeSean McCoy to just 22 yards rushing.
“Being in the position that we were in, it just says a lot about the team we have,” Bowman told a writer from the team’s website. Added Bowman: “I’m sure you guys know that we’re going to continue to fight every single week and just not let the outside world dictate what’s going on around here. That was a great response by the team.”
