A new era begins for the Chargers, while the 49ers have to try and overcome a crushing Super Bowl defeat.
San Diego Chargers:
Last season: A third season just missing the playoffs finally ended the Norv Turner era in San Diego. The head coach with a bizarre gift for snatching defeat from the jaws of victory with bad play calls in the final minutes, he was now moved on to be the Cleveland Browns offensive co-ordinator.
Four defeats on the bounce, from Week 10 to 13, did it for their post-season hopes last term. The Chargers big problem last year was a weak offensive line, which meant QB Phillip Rivers was sacked 49 times, and hit on 70 others. It resulted in Rivers worst season in the pros.
Defensively they were a top 10 team, so it was a lack of scoring power that hurt them in the end.
This season: New Head Coach Mike McCoy should improve that offence, and DJ Fluker, their first round draft pick, will go straight in as an offensive tackle. Their second round pick, Manti Te'o, is probably better known for his fake girlfriend than his play to most but the former Notre Dame star is a talented linebacker, and he will step into Takeo Spikes' shoes.
How pint-sized running back Danny Woodhead gets on away from the Pats will be interesting and we reckon a fit again tight end Antonio Gates could have a big year under this new coaching ticket.
Verdict: As we have already seen, the Broncos are a class act but the rest of the AFC West is mediocre. The Chiefs will improve, but that might not be enough to knock the Chargers out of second place. We doubt the Chargers can win enough games to nab a wildcard but we have seen Phillip Rivers have monster years before. A repeat of the 4,710 yards he threw for in 2010, plus flying starts by their draft picks and new coach, might just do it though. A very easy schedule will help too. Could be a surprise package.
San Francisco 49ers
Last season: All the way to the Super Bowl, and while it looked like they were rabbits caught in the headlights at first, they acquitted themselves pretty well after the lights went off. It didn't get much more exciting than watching Colin Kaepernick under centre either.
This season: Harbaugh and Kaepernick remain a hugely exciting partnership, and Colin was his man from day one, even when Alex Smith was playing decent football at the start of his tenure.
Whether or not the quarterback will be able to replicate the scintillating form of last year remains to be seen, and if we were a defensive coordinator trying to stop the read option play, we'd be telling our defensive guys to hit the QB and hit him hard, which is what Kaepernick can expect this season as he deals with more pressure both from the fans and opposing defences.
However, Michael Crabtree is out with an injury and Kaepernick was most certainly using him as his favourite target last year. He'll be leaning a bit more on Vernon Davis by all accounts, as it seems that they're even thinking about lining him up at wide receiver this season too (Fantasy folks, take note) which might, or might not work.
On defence, it's always going to be clear that they are smash mouth, hard hitting and aggressive, so we don't see much of a change there. They added to their secondary with their first round pick in the draft (Eric Reid, LSU), and also added more talent all over the place in Quinton Patton, Corey Lemonier and Tank Carradine all of whom look to be good value picks.
They start the season at the Packers tonight, and that's going to be a humdinger of an opener, while there are difficult games against the Seahawks, Redskins and Saints in their calendar this year. One thing worth watching all season will be seeing Jim Harbaugh screaming and yelling abuse at anyone who'll listen on the sideline. He's a passionate guy.
Verdict: A strong contender for the title again in many people's books, but it seems like a stretch to ask them to get back there now that a lot of defences know what to expect from them. No doubt that they'll make the playoffs, but with a lot of teams around them improving, they would be asking a lot to be back at the big game in February. Still, in terms of the regular season, we'll have to se how they start out tonight, but they could put up big numbers. We'll guess 13-3 because this team has talent all over the park.
