Okay well it may not be “Five” reasons, it may be more. I’m sure most Niner fans have read the article from Real Football 365 recently titled: Five reasons the 49ers will not be .500 in ‘06. The article didn’t seem to sit to well with Niner fans, not because we have Super Bowl aspirations, but because the reasons the writer gave were pure crap. A couple of our staff writers decided to counter Mr. Krupka’s article. Here is what Vini Chopra and Matt Gagnon had to say:
Vini Chopra
I don’t claim to be a homer fan of the 49ers by any means. If any of the readers have seen some of my posts and previous articles I tend to point out the negatives and ride the wave of caution when speaking about this developing team. However, every once in a while a so-called sports writer comes along that is so amateurish in his/her allegations that one must wonder if this said person watches the game of football at all. Eric Krupka, I hate to do this to you, but I read your recent article about five reasons why the 49ers will not finish over .500, and I had a laugh.
First, let me be clear. I do not, even for a moment, believe that the San Francisco 49ers will finish over .500 (better than 8-8) in the 2006 season. At least not in any confident sense. I believe that a 6-10 finish is more likely. But there are reasons for making claims to these kinds of predictions that follow streams of logic and demonstrate that one pays attention to the NFL. Krupka’s reasoning constantly falls somewhere between lofty and absurd. Here are a few examples:
However, the team remains a couple of years away from jumping from the pits of damnation to the upper stretches of the NFL stratosphere. But enough with the talk.
Let’s start here. The team is a COUPLE YEARS away from “jumping from the pits of damnation” ? I do not know what kind of patience Mr. Krupka displays, but a couple years is a long period of time. It typically takes a team 3 years to rebuild, and cycles in the NFL come in a 3 year dose unless you are the Patriots. Nolan began to rebuild this team in 2005 with the selection of Alex Smith. In 2006 we have made further strides by acquiring the likes of Vernon Davis, Manny Lawson, and Antonio Bryant. The fact is that the 49ers do not have a “couple years” to crawl out of the depths of mediocrity. They have, at most, another two years and a lot of free salary cap to ensure that by 2007 they are competing for something greater than just .500. So a couple years? I don’t think so. Not unless a new regime takes over.
Read more…
