Recent history not in the Saints corner
 

2. Good news for Niners? San Francisco fell minutes short of making it to Indianapolis and Super Bowl XLVI. But based on recent trends, San Francisco or another NFC West team will advance to Super Bowl XLVII in New Orleans. As CBS Sportsline reporter Clark Judge recently pointed out, the division that plays the AFC East during the regular season has wound up in the Super Bowl every season since 2006. In 2006, the Bears played their nondivision games against the AFC East and advanced to the Super Bowl; in 2007, the Giants did it; in 2008 the Cardinals did it; in 2009 the Saints did it; last season the Packers did it; and this season the Giants did it again.

Next season, the NFC West is slated to play its nondivision games against the AFC East, which bodes well for the 49ers, Cardinals, Seahawks and Rams. If history repeats itself, one of these NFC West teams will be returning to the Super Bowl.

Super Bowl 2012: One play can change everything -- Adam Schefter's 10 Spot - ESPN

Trends are trends and they are meaningful in some way I suppose, however in this case I have precisely zero concern about San Francisco...and in particular Alex Smith.

Apparently GW did as well and we know how that turned out!!

Oh I don't think SF even comes close to the NFC game next year.

They got to where they were by D really and they don't usually perform consistently year to year.

Its like they have a great year then falter for a couple of years before they rebound. Sort of like the Giants.

More like coincidences are coincidences, and they don't mean a thing.

.

I lost all respect for "trends" when the Saints blasted through so many in 2009 to reach the Superbowl in 2010. Every week there was another hater/nay-sayer with some obscure fact trending to the conclusion it was impossible for the Saints to make the Superbowl.

When we got there, the final "trend" was how few teams who make the Superbowl win it on their first trip... nuff said.

How about this trend: I can see absolutely zero correlation between NFC teams playing the AFC east on way to the Superbowl. Each year the quality of opponents and composition of teams changes radically and recent history tells me that trends are just bull s*it.

Niners won't win their division next year.

When you consider the division the 9ers play in, they should be at the top for quite a while...and their defense, if kept intact, is very formidable. JMO, though.

Whats makes you think that? With the teams in the West you could almost crown them Division champs now...
Sorry I'm not a fan of the 49er's but give credit wheres its due.

I'm just gonna wait till next season, take it one weekend at a time, and when we get to Superbowl XLVII, then I'll hollar bull****. This Saints team was built to break the mold.

Just like no team that loses 3games in a row wins the superbowl or no team that lost to Tampa bay wins the superbowl. I guess its time to break another trend.

Hopefully that division is strong enough to win some freaking games.

We've got a community organizer with a middle name Hussein as a president.

ANYTHING is possible in this world anymore.

ANYTHING

Alaska

That's horsesh*t. Steaks will always be broken.

Especially T-bones.

MMM. STEAKS.....

Good catch. I think I was drunk wehn I posted that. and I'm drunk now. :)

I agree here. SF got every break this year winning many tight games. I doubt the luck continues this coming season.

I can only repeat the same:

Trends are just bulls*it.

I have to agree 49ers will win the divison in a landslide again next year. We better not screw things up in games like the Rams game last year that cost us #2 seed.

Play like Jimmy "the man" Graham #80 likes to say: YOLO...you only live once and I play every game as if its my last

Spags should teach the Defense how to tackle!

I saw it immediately. What happened to the 49ers this past year is exactly what happened to the Saints in '06. New coach and new coordinators came in, not a lot of film on what they were doing, for other teams to break down. Plenty of good players on hand, who had been poorly coached. Easy schedule due to the poor year they'd had the year before. Piled up wins. Won home field and a bye. Enormously off-the-chain, pumped-up home crowd and emotional players, that allowed them to win exactly ONE playoff game before they fell apart. Next year, 8-8 or 9-7, did not qualify, and that's exactly what I see happening to the Niners once they have to play a #2 seed schedule, and once teams study them a little bit and prepare.


Case in point: the Niners absolutely blew out Seattle early in the year, then the second time, those two teams played a really tough close game, late in the year, decided by only a couple of points. Once the Seahawks were able to look at film and prepare, the 49ers did not look nearly so hot. The Rams, same deal. The second game between them was much more competitive than the first, which tells me there is something going on with the Niners last year besides just plain dominance.


Now of course, looking back... if you offered me the Saints going from a losing record to being in the NFC Championship game in '06, I'll say OF COURSE I'LL TAKE IT. We'd never been anywhere near there before. But wouldn't you admit, that after that game at Soldier Field, and in the '07 and '08 seasons, we came to know how we were flawed -- that we maybe weren't as good as we thought we were... we were good, we were definitely a playoff caliber team in '06, but we weren't really an NFC Championship Game caliber team in '06. That's the moment the 49ers are at right now.


And I still can't believe people think the Rams are so bad. They had injuries but they're not a pathetic team, don't sleep on the Rams. I think the odds are good they're going to do exactly the above scenario next year, with a new coach nobody is prepared for, and win the NFC West over the 49ers, maybe even win home field. They have a good QB, a great workhorse running back, big playmaking defensive personnel, and new coaches who are coming into that division loaded for bear.

Remember back when our division was changing QBs and coaches every year, revolving door, the NFC South was a very unstable division, different teams won it every year. Now that's kinda stabilized, so you don't see it so much. But that NFC West is topsy turvy that way, they keep changing coaches and QBs out there and it's basically the Rams turn to get it together next year.

You THINK?!

No one thinks they are drunk. That is horseradish.

They are or they aren't. ;)

I sometimes think I'm sober...

:DIf we had the EJ Girl Scouts as our defense, we'd be playing in the Super Bowl tonight

If we didn't give it away 5 times, we'd be in too.

Just have to win home-field next year and it's money.

Then why did it take them so long to get back to a playoff game?

No credit due for THIS year, my friend. It's a new season.

The Niners must survive not only the changes within their own organization but those within their division. Teams will improve.

And just ask New Orleans how easy it is to duplicate that kind of defensive season the very next year...

And we nearly bucked that trend despite an awful defense that couldn't prevent anything...

Not in the last two drives, no.

I also think this trend will be broken, because at one time AFC East was a strong division. But now it's just an aging Patriots and a bunch of doormats. So playing the Jets, Fins, and Bills won't exactly prep the 9ers for the playoffs like it did for us in 09. We got four signature wins out of that schedule. Against the Bills, our D stepped up, Fins - first comeback from down more than 2 scores, Pats - beat a Superbowl contender, and the Jets were undefeated when we played them.