Optimism in Niners camp
High hopes despite 6-win season in 2017
SANTA CLARA — Managing expectations isn’t usually one of the top tasks for NFL teams coming off six-win seasons.
Then again, no team has ever gotten to that underwhelming total with a season-ending, fivegame winning streak fueled by the midseason acquisition of a quarterback who has shown signs of becoming one of the league’s most promising passers.
That’s exactly the situation the San Francisco 49ers find themselves in as they held their first training camp practice Thursday led by Jimmy Garoppolo and his $137.5 million contract.
“If our guys make a living just reading and listening to talk radio and stuff, that stuff could mess you up,” coach Kyle Shanahan said. “I am aware that people have talked highly about us and that’s what comes with the territory when you win your last five games after starting so bad. I mean, we all know that doesn’t mean anything. It doesn’t.”
The 49ers were far from promising at the start of Shanahan’s first season as coach, losing their first nine games for the worst start in franchise history. That vibe began to change after San Francisco dealt a second-round pick to New England for Garoppolo after the eighth loss and things really began to change once Garoppolo was able to get on the field.
He threw a late garbage-time touchdown in a loss to Seattle that dropped the Niners to 1-10 and then took over as starter from rookie C.J. Beathard the following week. San Francisco didn’t lose again last season, posting the best record ever for an NFL team that lost its first nine games.
But there is little carry-over effect in the NFL with nearly half — 19 of 40 — of the teams that finished the season on a five-game winning streak the past 23 seasons missing the playoffs the following year.
“The way we finished last year was all positive and everything but this is a completely new season with new challenges,” left tackle Joe Staley said. “Everybody has been very focused and understands that. It’s exciting to be able to build on something positive from last year and carry it into the offseason. But there’s no one in the locker room who thinks we arrived. We have a ton of work to do. We were a 6-10 football team. We