What NFL Experts Predict for the 49ers’ Crucial 2024 Season originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
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The 2024 NFL season is here and contending teams like the 49ers have their sights set on a Super Bowl LIX victory.
After a crushing Super Bowl LVIII loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, San Francisco navigated a difficult offseason and kept most of its all-star cast together. But the offseason wasn’t without its obstacles and drama.
The atmosphere around the 49ers has not been great during training camp and in the run-up to the 2024 season, but that appears to have changed in the days leading up to their Week 1 “Monday Night Football” game against the New York Jets.
Can the 49ers overcome their offseason drama and give it another try? Will they really pull it off this time? NFL experts weigh in and make their predictions for the 2024 season:
Who will be NFL MVP?
Patrick Mahomes: 18 votes
Josh Allen: 9 votes
CJ Stroud: 5 votes
Joe Burrow: 5 votes
Jordan Love: 2 votes
Brock Purdy: 1 vote
Jalen Hurts: 1 vote
Who will be the Attacking Player of the Year?
Tyreke Hill: 12 votes
Christian McCaffrey: 8 votes
Bijan Robinson: 4 votes
CeeDee Lamb: 3 votes
CJ Stroud: 2 votes
Justin Jefferson: 2 votes
Breece Hall: 2 votes
Josh Allen: 2 votes
Brock Purdy: 1 vote
Patrick Mahomes: 1 vote
Jordan Love: 1 vote
Marvin Harrison Jr.: 1 vote
Ja’Marr Chase: 1 vote
Saquon Barkley: 1 vote
Who will be the best defender of the year?
Micah Parsons: 15 votes
Myles Garrett: 10 votes
TJ Watt: 6 votes
Aidan Hutchinson: 3 votes
Maxx Crosby: 3 votes
Chris Jones: 2 votes
Fred Warner: 1 vote
Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah: 1 vote
Nick Bosa: 1 vote
Who will be the NFC champion?
Lions: 16 votes
Packers: 10 votes
49ers: 8 votes
Eagles: 5 votes
Rams: 2 votes
Cowboys: 1 vote
Who will win the Super Bowl?
Chiefs: 23 votes
49ers: 6 votes
Texans: 3 votes
Bengal: 3 votes
Ravens: 2 votes
Lions: 2 votes
Packers: 1 vote
Bills: 1 vote
Super Bowl game
Lions-Chiefs: 11 votes
Packers-Chiefs: 7 votes
49ers-Chiefs: 5 votes
Lions-Bengals: 2 votes
Eagles-Texans: 2 votes
Eagles-Chiefs: 2 votes
Packers-Texans: 1 vote
49ers-Texans: 1 vote
Packers-Ravens: 1 vote
49ers-Ravens: 1 vote
Lions-Ravens: 1 vote
Rams-Chiefs: 1 vote
Eagles-Dolphins: 1 vote
Cowboys-Chiefs: 1 vote
Lions-Bills: 1 vote
49ers-Bills: 1 vote
Packers-Bengals: 1 vote
49ers-Bengals: 1 vote
NFC West Champions
(21 votes: Abdoo, Band, Battista, Bergman, Blair, Chadiha, Edholm, Gonzales, Grant, Kownack, Magdziuk, Mariucci, Okada, Parr, Patra, Rank, Reuter, Ross, Shook, Walker, Zierlein.)
2) Los Angeles Rams (+350) | 6 votes: Baca, Bhanpuri, Cersosimo, Filice, Florio, Jones-Drew.
3) Seattle Seahawks (+600) | 1 vote: Rosenthal.
“The 49ers’ grip on the division (and perhaps the conference as a whole) appears to be waning, with 75 percent of voters picking them as champions after 88 percent predicted that outcome last year. Yet San Francisco was on all 28 ballots, selected as the top wild-card team when it wasn’t picked to win the West.
“The Rams also received a share of the division’s top-seeded votes, but they’re primarily projected to finish as the sixth or seventh seed. The rest of the league should pay attention to who emerges from this cluster, however, as the NFC West champion has earned a trip to the conference title game in 10 of the past 13 seasons and the Super Bowl in four of the past six seasons.”
NFC Wildcard Teams
T-3) San Francisco 49ers (21 points)
Fifth seed (7 votes): Baca, Bhanpuri, Cersosimo, Filice, Florio, Jones-Drew, Rosenthal.
“The NFC is represented by … Jordan Love, Matt LaFleur and the Green Bay Packers. I’m going to take this prediction a step further. Put this on paper. They’re going to go as a wildcard team, just like the [Aaron] Rodgers team did that many years ago.
“And to make that run, Packers head coach Matt LaFleur will take his team on the road to take on his old buddy Sean McVay in L.A., he’ll go on the road to take on the Lions’ rivals in Detroit, and then he’ll go on the road to take on his former colleague and nemesis, Kyle Shanahan, in San Francisco.”
“The Packers are going back to New Orleans, where they won the Super Bowl 28 years ago. And who are they going to face? They’re going to face the same team that the Packers franchise faced in Super Bowl 1. They’re the most dominant team of this era, and they’re a team that helped define a generation of football fans. They’re going to face the Kansas City Chiefs.”
Winner of the Super Bowl: Chiefs
“Amid all the talk of trades and holdouts, it almost seems like an afterthought that the 49ers will suit up and play football against the Jets on Monday night,” Barnwell wrote. “On paper, everyone in the core that led them to the NFC title is returning for another shot at a Super Bowl, including left tackle Trent Williams, who ended his holdout this week.
“While the debates over Brock Purdy’s impact on offense continue to rage, the only thing we can say for sure is that teams haven’t yet found a way to consistently stop the former seventh-round pick. Since Purdy entered the starting lineup in Week 13 of the 2022 season, the 49ers are a league-best 18-5, lead the NFL in expected points added (EPA) per play on offense and rank third in EPA per play on defense. They’ve been the best team in football during that span, even if it hasn’t yet produced a championship. Barring a rash of injuries to Purdy and his fellow superstars atop San Francisco’s roster, this team will be back in the playoffs for another run.”
Super Bowl Prediction: Chiefs 34, Packers 20.
Super Bowl: 49ers 23, Bengals 20; Christian McCaffrey MVP
Seasonal prices:
Most Valuable Player: Joe Burrow
OPOY Christian McCaffrey
DPOY: Micah Parsons
OROY: Caleb Williams
DROY: Laiatu Latu
Return: Aaron Rodgers
Coach: Matt LaFleur
“I’m going to assume that 2024 is The Year of Urgency. The two teams I have at the end, the San Francisco 49ers and Cincinnati Bengals, will both likely undergo some roster moves in the next few years based on how their contracts are structured. So this could be the last chance, not for the franchises (both are too well positioned for that), but for the specific groups of players on those rosters right now.
“And those groups of players have been knocking on the door for years, have had injury-wracked seasons, and are as talented as any group in the NFL. To take it a step further, I almost picked the New York Jets to beat the Bengals in the divisional round and take their shot at the Chiefs, given the same dynamics that exist there. So give me the same rematch of Super Bowls XVI and XXIII that I picked last year, but this time I’m picking San Francisco to be the champion.”
NFC
1. Packers; 2. 49ers; 3. Buccaneers; 4. Eagles; 5.Lions; 6. Commanders; 7.Seahawks.
Wild card: 49ers over Seahawks; Buccaneers over Commanders; Lions over Eagles.
Division: Packers over Lions; Buccaneers over 49ers.
Conference Championship: Packers over Buccaneers.
Super Bowl: Chiefs over Packers.
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