What NFL experts are projecting for 49ers’ critical 2024 season

What NFL experts are projecting for 49ers’ critical 2024 season originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

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The 2024 NFL season has arrived, and competitive 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 the majority of its star-studded roster together. But the offseason certainly wasn’t without its obstacles and drama.

The vibes surrounding the 49ers throughout training camp and heading into the 2024 season weren’t great, but that appears to have changed in the days leading up to the Week 1 “Monday Night Football” matchup against the New York Jets.

Can the 49ers overcome the offseason drama and make another run? Will they actually get it done this time? NFL experts weighed in and gave their 2024 season predictions:

Who will win NFL MVP?

Patrick Mahomes: 18 votes
Josh Allen: 9 votes
C.J. Stroud: 5 votes
Joe Burrow: 5 votes
Jordan Love: 2 votes
Brock Purdy: 1 vote
Jalen Hurts: 1 vote

Who will win Offensive Player of the Year?

Tyreke Hill: 12 votes
Christian McCaffrey: 8 votes
Bijan Robinson: 4 votes
CeeDee Lamb: 3 votes
C.J. 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 win Defensive Player of the Year?

Micah Parsons: 15 votes
Myles Garrett: 10 votes
T.J. 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
Bengals: 3 votes
Ravens: 2 votes
Lions: 2 votes
Packers: 1 vote
Bills: 1 vote

Super Bowl matchup

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 champs

(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’ vice-grip on the division (and, perhaps, the conference as a whole) appears to be slipping, with 75 percent of voters picking them to repeat as champs after 88 percent predicted that outcome last year. Still, San Francisco appeared 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 first-place votes in the division but they are mainly predicted to finish as the sixth or seventh seed. The rest of the league should take notice of whoever comes out of this cluster, though, as the NFC West champ 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.”

NFC wild card teams

T-3) San Francisco 49ers (21 points)

Fifth seed (7 votes): Baca, Bhanpuri, Cersosimo, Filice, Florio, Jones-Drew, Rosenthal.

“The NFC will be represented by … Jordan Love, Matt LaFleur and the Green Bay Packers. I’m going to go one step further here on this prediction. Put this in print. They’re going as a wild-card team, just like the [Aaron] Rodgers team did so many years ago.

“And to make this run, the Packers head coach Matt LaFleur is going to take his team and they’re going to go on the road and beat his old buddy Sean McVay in LA, he’s going to go on the road and beat the rival Lions in Detroit and then he’s going to go on the road and beat his former colleague and his nemesis, Kyle Shanahan, in San Francisco.”

“The Packers are going back to New Orleans where they won a Super Bowl 28 years ago. And who will they face? They’re going to face the same team the Packers franchise faced in Super Bowl 1. They’re the most dominant team of this era and they’re a squad that has helped define a generation of football fans. They’re facing the Kansas City Chiefs.”

Super Bowl winner: Chiefs

“Amid all the conversations about trades and holdouts, it almost seems like an afterthought that the 49ers will line up and play football Monday night against the Jets,” Barnwell wrote. “On paper, everybody within the core who led them to the NFC title returns for another attempt at winning a Super Bowl, including left tackle Trent Williams, who ended his holdout this week.

“While the debates about Brock Purdy’s impact on the offense rage on, all we can say for sure is teams haven’t yet found a way to stop the former seventh-round pick consistently. 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 over that stretch, even if it hasn’t yet yielded a championship. Barring a rash of injuries to Purdy and his fellow superstars atop the San Francisco 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

Season awards:

MVP: Joe Burrow
OPOY Christian McCaffrey
DPOY: Micah Parsons
OROY: Caleb Williams
DROY: Laiatu Latu
Comeback: Aaron Rodgers
Coach: Matt LaFleur

“I’m going with 2024 being The Year of Urgency. The two teams I have standing at the end, the San Francisco 49ers and Cincinnati Bengals, are both likely to undergo some roster shifting over the next couple of years, based on how their contracts are set up. So this could be the last shot, not for the franchises (both are too well-positioned for that), but for the particular groups of players on those rosters right now.

“And those groups of players have knocked on the door for years, experienced seasons destroyed by injuries and are as talented as any in the NFL. To take it to another level: I almost picked the New York Jets to get by the Bengals in the divisional round and have their shot at the Chiefs, with the same dynamic existing there. So give me the same rematch of Super Bowls XVI and XXIII that I picked last year, but this time I’ll pick San Francisco coming out as 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.

Divisional: Packers over Lions; Buccaneers over 49ers.

Conference championship: Packers over Buccaneers.

Super Bowl: Chiefs over Packers.

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