The 49ers began the 2022 campaign at No.10 in the USA TODAY Sports NFL power rankings. It made sense despite question marks under center. They have a loaded roster that went to the NFC championship game last season. Their Week 1 performance did not look like a team with an NFC championship game in its future, and it was reflected in a drop to No. 13 in the USA TODAY power rankings.
While the loss wasn’t great, it wasn’t catastrophic. There were fixable mistakes from San Francisco, and they were hardly the only big favorite to go down in Week 1. Weird things happen to open the season (shoutout to the 2015 and 2016 49ers). Slamming the panic button on this year’s 49ers after the opener would be premature.
However, they need to play better in Week 2 at home under what should be dry conditions. A dominant win over Seattle (No. 22) would reaffirm some of the preseason projections for the 49ers and likely move them back up to the top 10.
