2013 San Francisco 49ers Season Preview and Super Bowl Prediction

With the start of the NFL's regular season looming and the San Francisco 49ers looking to bounce back from their disappointing loss to the Baltimore Ravens in Super Bowl 47, here's three things to keep an eye on heading into the season as one of the most storied franchises in all of football looks to capture their sixth title and their first since the 1994 season.

1. Will Colin Kaepernick continue to run rampant on the NFC West or will they figure him out? - Though 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh and quarterback Colin Kaepernick didn't invent the pistol formation, they utilized it to perfection in 2012 and made it one of the hardest formations for an opposing defense to adjust to. With little known about the pistol offense at the professional level aside from college footage, the 49ers used it to their advantage, catching defenses guessing on more than one occasion. On the biggest stage of his career making his first playoff appearance, the duel-threat Kaepernick torched the Green Bay Packers for an NFL-record 181 rushing yards, the most ever by a QB in a single game. But with months of preparation and studying film during the offseason to get up to speed with this formation that has taken the league by storm and has catapulted the 49ers young quarterback to instant fame, teams most notably those within the division figure to create defensive schemes to best counter the pistol and put a stop to the human gazelle that is Colin Kaepernick.

2. What about the D and can we count on the 49ers secondary? - Finishing the 2012 regular season with a record of 11-4-1, beating out the Seattle Seahawks for the division crown by a half a game, the 49ers had a tougher road than anticipated while capturing their first set of back-to-back NFC West titles since the franchise won four straight from 1992-1995. And with a target on their back in the NFC, division foes Seattle, the St. Louis Rams and the Arizona Cardinals plan to do everything possible to prevent coach Harbaugh and company from raising a third consecutive pennant. The best way for San Francisco to maintain their supremacy in a division full of hungry playoff hopefuls and a conference far superior than their opposite, is through their defense. Two years removed from having the league's most formidable defense from top to bottom, head coach Jim Harbaugh and defensive coordinator Vic Fangio saw San Francisco's secondary regress in 2012 and hope to breath life back into the heart and soul of the team. Though they weren't exactly terrible, there were some gaps and there's plenty of room for improvement as indicated in their loss to the Ravens.

Harbaugh and co. hope safety Eric Reid who the 49ers selected 18 overall in this year's draft NFL Draft can fill the shoes of the departed Pro-Bowler Dashon Goldson. Fingers are also crossed for positive contributions from cornerback's Carlos Rogers who had a down year in 2012 compared to his Pro-Bowl year the season before. Nnamdi Asomugha is another player at the corner position that looks to rebound with his new team and will be called upon to help fill the void of the injured Chris Culliver who sustained a season-ending ACL tear earlier this month. That's if Asomugha makes the squad as early reports had him being the odd man out towards the end of training camp. But that might all change now that Culliver is no longer in the 2013 picture. 

3. Who will step in and pick up the slack at wide-out? - With the 49ers receiving corps currently in shambles as two of the top three options in Michael Crabtree and Mario Manningham are on the shelf nursing injuries and aren't expected to be back until mid-season, the team will be seeking contributions from a list of 10 players vying for a roster spot at a position the 49ers are paper thin at. While Vernon Davis poses an enormous threat worthy of double-coverage from the tight-end position and the newly acquired Anquan Boldin has done nothing but impress at training camp, who Kaepernick calls his go-to target outside of the two aforementioned names is anyone's guess up to this point. While nothing is set in stone, Kyle Williams and newcomer Austin Collie lead the pack and are early candidates to most likely win over the last vacant spot. Also worth noting is that Boldin and Collie who has shown flashes of talent but has suffered from lingering concussions during his stint with the Peyton Manning-led Colts, are the only active wide-receivers on San Francisco's roster that have amassed at least 100 career receptions. That alone should describe just how inexperienced the team is in the wide-out department.

Coach Harbaugh had envisioned for last year's first round pick A.J. Jenkins to be the next bright young star to carry the torch at the wide-out position but after watching his rookie season from the sidelines followed by a forgetful training camp and a preseason that is better left unmentioned, speculation of the former Illinois standout failing to make the team arose. But instead of getting nothing in return, the 49ers dealt Jenkins to the Kansas City Chiefs in exchange for receiver Jon Baldwin, pulling the plug on the A.J. Jenkins experiment. Like Jenkins, Baldwin is a former first round pick that was selected 26th overall out of Pittsburgh in 2011, four picks earlier than Jenkins and has also failed to live up to the hype. But considering both players are still young (Jenkins 23 years old and Baldwin 24) the fresh start a change of scenery brings might do both players some good and could benefit both parties in the process. It definitely couldn't hurt given they've been declared busts up to this point. Unlike Jenkins who has yet to haul in his first career reception, seeing action in only one game where his lone target was a drop, Baldwin has over 500 receiving yards to his name and 2 touchdowns. Unfortunately, Baldwin will have to learn the playbook and build chemistry with his new quarterback in a fraction of the time those he'll be competing with received.

Now, with all that said, I think it's about time for my Super Bowl prediction: Last year at the start of the postseason, all signs pointed towards a rematch of Super Bowl 24 between the San Francisco 49ers and the Denver Broncos, a game in which the Joe Montana-led 49ers demolished John Elway and the Denver Broncos in blowout fashion -- 55-10. But as we all know, 2012 didn't end to well for Denver who fell victim to a late collapse and a desperate hail mary that resulted in a miracle touchdown from Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco to Jacoby Jones which ultimately put an end to Peyton Manning's stellar first year with the Broncos. But with all of that behind them now and a new weapon in receiver Wes Welker for Peyton to throw to, I'm predicting the 49ers and Broncos to meet at New Jersey's MetLife Stadium on February 2 for Super Bowl XLVIII. 


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