I suspect the author doesn't believe in his own prediction and is simply throwing chit on the wall to see if anything sticks. It's obvious to me that he's a hack that is looking for readership. The general consensus around the football world is that we're going into 2014 as the favorite, and saying something outrageous is going to attract readers like flies to cow pattie.
But some of the points he raises are fair. We did win a number of close games in 2013, of which losing any one of them would have relegated us to a #5 seed and made our SB run more problematic, and yes, we do play in the toughest division in football. Plus there's a history associated with the SB winner in that it's been over a decade since anyone has repeated and even back-to-back trips are rare. Occasionally, like last season's Ravens, the defending SB champ doesn't even make the playoffs the following season. Parity rules in the NFL. Although saying we won't even make the playoffs is a bit over the top, I wouldn't be totally shocked if we don't get back to the SB this season.
But to counter some of those points: Yes, we won a lot of close games, but we won 13 of them, and its inevitable when you win that many that at least a few are going to be by a narrow margin. Our primary challenger, the Niners, won some close games, too, such as that gift win on MNF vs. the Falcons, beating the Cards by just a FG (one of their FG's was a 56 yarder) in their last regular season game, not to mention beating us by kicking a late FG. We haven't lost a game by more than a TD in two years, counting the playoffs. No other team can even come close to making that claim. Keeping games close gives you the opportunity to win. And as far as the history of the SB curse goes, we didn't lose a whole lot of impact players and we're still a very young team. I like our chances.
