Last year, the San Francisco 49ers fell to 8-8 after three straight seasons where they went 11-4-1 or better. Conventional wisdom says the 49ers are going to get even worse this year, and this is one place where Football Outsiders is in agreement with the conventional wisdom. In the new Football Outsiders Almanac 2015, our season simulation has the 49ers averaging just 6.8 wins and making the playoffs just 20 percent of the time.
The 49ers were one of five teams listed in this ESPN Insider piece I wrote yesterday about teams we believe are likely to decline in 2015.