The San Francisco 49ers won in 2025, but they weren’t what’d you call a sight for sore eyes. It was worse in 2024.
We’re two years removed from a 2023 season that was one of the most aesthetically pleasing years of any team in the NFL. Everything came easy offensively.
Kyle Shanahan is hoping that’s Brock Purdy’s life in 2026. It’ll be the best supporting cast for Purdy since ‘23. He has a legitimate WR1. And unlike in years past, Purdy has a pair of wide receivers who thrive in contested situations.
The depth in the backfield should make Christian McCaffrey better. Kaelon Black and Jordan James should be sneaky good contributors, and not just in 2026. If the 49ers can find a left guard who can hold his own, the offense has a chance to be special.
ESPN’s Benjamin Solak compiled a watchability list, ranking every team based on quality offenses, star players, competitive games, and explosive plays. Surprisingly, the 49ers checked in low on the list. They were 20th, one spot below the Colts and one spot in front of the Panthers:
The 49ers under coach Kyle Shanahan — so long as the offense is decently healthy — have always been pleasantly view-worthy. Even a quarterback injury can’t slow Shanahan down — those early-season Mac Jones games in 2025 were hilariously fun. Even as running back Christian McCaffrey, now 30, diminishes in athleticism and tight end George Kittle returns from a right Achilles tear, I’ll believe in a bad 49ers offense only when I see it, and not a moment before.
San Francisco played in only six one-score games last season — fewer than any other team — thanks in large part to a porous defense that was among the bottom 10 in most metrics. Fortunately for the Niners, bad defense and good offense can make for surprisingly watchable games. Take their Week 16 primetime game against the Colts in December. It was the only watchable Philip Rivers game after he came out of retirement to be Indianapolis’ quarterback at 44 years old … and it was because the 49ers’ defense was shaky enough to make it so.
The 49ers should be healthier on both sides of the ball this season, so they might just be a boring version of pleasantly good. But 25% of their games are against NFC West rivals, the Rams and Seahawks, and those contests always deliver.
If August has taught us anything, it’s that the 49ers will not be boring.
The defense will be somewhat of a wildcard. The front four will be the deepest it’s been in some time. Osa Odighizuwa is still a move that is flying under the radar — Solak didn’t even mention him. Role players like Sam Okuayinonu and Keion White won’t need to be overextended. Having your two best players, Nick Bosa and Fred Warner, takes pressure off the other nine players on the field.
