The 49ers are a team I've got a ton of respect for. They seem to be the best of both worlds in terms of new school versus old school style of play. It's actually pretty extreme and it makes them a pretty interesting and dangerous team.
The 49ers are a run heavy team, but they are fairly creative with it. They typically have a pretty deep running back room and even will even use receivers like Deebo Samuel in the run game. Many claim today's NFL is pass heavy or whatnot, but the 49ers seem to have found a way to succeed at rushing the ball in the modern day. Adding Christian McCaffrey last season only helped that strategy.
Another fairly interesting aspect of their team, specifically their offense, is the fact that over the past four seasons they have not really had top notch QB play, but still have had a lot of success offensively and just success overall. Once again, this scenario spits in the face of pretty much every analyst that claims you must have a top QB and you must be pass heavy to succeed. I suppose they have not actually won a Super Bowl yet, so maybe there's an argument there. But the Niners have still been to a Super Bowl and two Conference Championship games in the past four seasons.
Of course last but not least, the Niners have simply got a suffocating defense led by Nick Bosa and Fred Warner. Again, while many teams are looking to load up their offense, the Niners still believe that defense wins championships.
It seems that as long as the 49ers have at least a low-end starting QB and Kyle Shanahan as their head coach, this team will be competitive. There's some questions at QB and if Nick Bosa will show up or not, but especially since the NFC looks a bit questionable as of now, I expect the Niners to be a top playoff team.
