How high should expectations be for the 49ers in 2009?

June 23, 10:53 AMSan Francisco 49ers ExaminerSamuel Lam

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(AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)

Yesterday, I mentioned the possibility of an NFC West title with only nine wins. But a part of that stems from the expectations for the 49ers for the upcoming season.

For any team in the NFL, certain expectations are put into place as the off-season rolls through. For the champion Steelers, people can expect them to make another run at a Super Bowl title.

For the Lions, a few game improvement from last season would probably the most reasonable expectation for the team.

Sometimes, expectations aren't always met. Like last year, the Browns were tagged as one of the up and coming teams. They were given a lot of nationally televised games but failed to make the playoffs.

After thinking about the potential of a 9-7 record for the 49ers, I started to think if my expectations for the team were too high or not high enough.

With a new full-time head coach, a new offense and a question mark at quarterback, it would make sense to scale back a little on my feelings for the team. Especially with the NFC Champion Cardinals in the division, it would be hard for me to find the 49ers as a division contender.

However, the optimism for this team still gets me going. For example, running back Frank Gore is in an offense that he's comfortable with and it looks like he can easily top the 1,000-yard rushing mark again.

Tight end Vernon Davis has been used more as a pass-catching receiver and that alone gives me hope that the passing game will excel. It still will depend on the quarterback that will pass the ball to him. But unlike last year, I don't think there is any favoritism towards any one quarterback. The best quarterback will win the starting job.

The defense will rely a lot on Manny Lawson to finally step up as a pass rusher and the play of the young Dashon Goldson as a new free safety.

The expectations for this team vary from a 7-9 record to possibly an 11-5 record. I think that is a reasonable range for the team. i would at least hope they improve from last year's record and finish over .500. But there is a chance that the 49ers could finish worse than last year. There is a lot of optimism I want to put into this year's team and I do hope that they will meet the goals set for this year.

At least for the 49ers, they expect to make it back to the playoffs. For us 49ers fans, we expect the same thing. And so for this upcoming season, we're hoping the team plays well enough to make the playoffs. That's the bar we've set for the team.

However, if the 49ers don't meet that expectation, it would mean another tough off-season to build upon. It would be hard for the fans also to stomach another losing season. But having lower expectations for the team isn't fun either.

The reason why I wanted to ponder this is because I have talked with several of my friends who follow the 49ers. There were mixed opinions on how much we should put on the team for this year. On one side, some say we should expect the team to make the playoffs and that anything less would be a disappointment.

Another view was that we shouldn't expect too much from the team and give them a little leeway if they miss the playoffs. That way we wouldn't be so harsh on the team as they try to rebuild.

I guess this goes to the question of whether or not we should hold this year's team that high up. For a team like the 49ers on the bubble, I don't find wrong in either way to look at it.

The 49ers are expected to be a playoff team this year. Yet on the other end, the team has a lot of unanswered questions that might not be enough to get them there. In either sense, the 49ers are right somewhere in the middle of it all. How high should we put this team up for this upcoming season? You can't go wrong either way because we really don't know what to expect from the team this year.

I do hope that the team makes the playoffs and makes good word on Jed York's prediction:

"This is the last time our season ends in December."

For more 49ers news: Visit my other site Mining the Gold Rush or the 49ers' official blog at Goal Posts.
Trying out Twitter for 49ers updates. Check me out here @SLam49ers