Super Bowl Predictions 2012: 49ers on the Verge of a New Dynasty

You don't need that many fingers to count off the number of dynasties the NFL has seen in its existence. If you're generous, you'll need two hands. If you're a tough grader, one hand will do.

Either way, there's no arguing that the San Francisco 49ers had themselves a dynasty in the 1980s and early 1990s. In a span of 14 seasons between 1981 and 1994, the 49ers won five Super Bowls, and they were home to all-time greats like Joe Montana, Jerry Rice and Steve Young.

The 49ers have been up and down ever since, and more down than up.

Of course, the franchise's fortunes were reversed in a big way this season, as they rebounded from a 6-10 campaign to go 13-3. If they beat the New York Giants in the NFC Championship Game on Sunday, they'll be back in the Super Bowl.

The Giants are a team that the 49ers can beat, and they're a team that they should beat. Indeed, the 49ers were able to handle the G-Men just fine at Candlestick Park during the regular season, and not enough has changed since then to give the Giants any kind of advantage.

The 49ers are also good enough to beat either the Baltimore Ravens or the New England Patriots, who will do battle in the AFC Championship Game on Sunday. 

In short, the 49ers are good enough to win it all this year.

Admittedly, it took a while for me to come around to the idea. This 49ers team is very easy to underestimate, as they're not particularly flashy and it was easy to get the sense that they overachieved during the regular season.

That notion became moot as soon as the 49ers beat the New Orleans Saints in the divisional round.

Now, it is easy to see the 49ers for what they are, and that's a very good football team. It's also easy to see what the 49ers could become in the next couple of seasons, and that's a dynasty.

To see it, you have to look at the organization from the top down. Things were pretty shaky at the top for a while there, but things stabilized as soon as team owner Jed York hired Trent Baalke to be his general manager, and things stabilized even more when Jim Harbaugh was hired as the head coach.

The two hirings effectively gave the 49ers a solid decision-making pipeline, and the direction the organization wanted to take began to manifest itself in the draft and then in free agency.

Harbaugh's regime then went to work cultivating a winning culture among a group of players who had only known losing, and it's self-evident now that his regime has succeeded.

Harbaugh isn't going anywhere any time soon, and neither are most of the players under the team's control. As long as the core remains intact, the 49ers are going to be able to win football games.

But just as it wasn't this year, winning football games with any kind of flare is not going to be this team's style. They will do it with crushing defense and a gritty run-first offense. They have the potential to be a modern-day version of the Steel Curtain.

The big question mark is what the 49ers' quarterback situation looks like in the long run. They have Alex Smith now, but he's a free agent at the end of the season. No doubt some will call for the 49ers to move on, even despite Smith's heroics in the divisional round.

But you have to think Smith will be invited to stick around for another year or two. He's earned the right, and it's not like he would draw much interest in the open market.

If he comes back, Smith will occupy the team's starting quarterback role until 2011 second-round pick Colin Kaepernick is ready to take it. The team traded up to get Kaepernick in the draft, a gesture that signals Harbaugh thinks highly of him.

In the coming seasons, the 49ers are going to have as many moving parts as the next team. What sets them apart is that they are constructed in a way that will allow them to keep rolling without hitting any major bumps. A clear path is laid out before them.

Winning the Super Bowl wouldn't be the start of this path. Its start was at the beginning of the season, and the 49ers have been progressing along it quite smoothly ever since. Winning the Super Bowl would merely be another stop on the road, so to speak.

If the 49ers win, they'll continue on. But even if they don't win, they'll continue on.

Rest assured, this is not a one-and-done team.