San Francisco 49ers: Expect the Unexpected (It's the Law)

(Photo by Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images)

Predicting an NFL team's record, is almost as hard as predicting the score of any given NFL game. There are so many wild and unpredictable events that can completely mess up all logically, well thought out assumptions. But fortune telling is a profitable business, so let's get started.

For the San Francisco 49ers to have a winning record in 2009, they will have to have a couple of surprises. The nature of those surprises is what is most important.

If the 49ers expect to clean up their old bad habit of losing more games then they win, they must have a break-out season among at least one of the positions of quarterback, offensive line, or outside linebacker.

Much of the team's biggest mistakes and inadequacies in 2008 occurred from lack of preparation and lack of depth at these positions.

Musical Chairs

Last season, starting quarterback J.T. O'Sullivan, became too anxious at times, which led to costly interceptions.

To be fair, those anxious times, were created by poor play from the offensive line, mostly, but not surprisingly, at right tackle; "not surprising", due to the fact that Jonas Jennings was more absent during NFL games on Sunday, then “Huckleberry Finn” was during Sunday school.

And while the 49ers were hoping Barry Sims could back-up the position, the reality was that quarterback J.T. O'Sullivan found himself on his back.

Last year, the 49ers went into the season hoping Jennings could stay on the field, and if not, then the player who wasn't good enough for the Raiders offensive line, could do an adequate job filling in. This was perhaps not the wisest course of action to take, and it was a large part of the 49ers 7-9 record.

This lack of forethought was aggravated by the fact, that backup offensive tackle Adam Snyder was oddly moved to guard before training camp, causing him to shift all his energy and focus from tackle to guard. Since Jennings was now out of the picture, the only backup tackle on the 53-man roster was Adam Snyder.

Snyder now had to get practice reps both at right tackle and left guard (where he was still starting) during the season, in case either offensive tackle suffered any injury during the next 14 games.

Not surprisingly, and perhaps luckily for the 49ers future, Barry Sims went down, this forced the 49ers to play Snyder (who had few reps) at right tackle, and simultaneously forced them to play David Baas at left guard.

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