San Francisco 49ers A 40/1 Favorite To Win 2011 Super Bowl

NFL News - March 1st, 2010 - Written by John

If ever there was a year for the San Francisco 49ers to re-emerge as the face of the NFC West, it's 2010. While the Arizona Cardinals plan for life sans Kurt Warner, the Seattle Seahawks building around a new head coach, and the St. Louis Rams coming of the NFL's worst record, the Niners appear to be the only team with momentum this summer.

San Francisco won two-in-a-row to close out the '09 season, and finally got the kind of season from Vernon Davis it had been waiting for. Now, the team is at a crossroads as it approaches the '10 season, and is a 40/1 favorite to win the Super Bowl next January, according to NFL Betting Lines.

The odds are relatively long, but the Niners will be one of those intriguing teams in the pre-season. There are still questions about Alex Smith at quarterback, but his progress last season was welcomed, and having a healthy Frank Gore certainly improved the offense.

Although San Francisco didn't have a signature win to boast, it still went 8-8 for the first time since '02.

Gore ran for 1,120 yards and had three 100-yard performances in the last four weeks of the year. Smith started the last 11 games and had a career-high 81.5 rating. He wasn't the cream of the conference, but still managed to throw more touchdowns than interceptions for the first time in his career, and created a pretty good connection with Davis. The tight end topped all tight ends with 13 touchdowns and had a 12.4 yard average. Head coach Mike Singletary said he believes Smith will be the starter for another year, but insisted there will still be a competition.

Smith's job is a whole lot easier with Davis and Michael Crabtree, though. In his rookie season, Crabtree missed the first five games due to a holdout, but ended up second on the team with 625 yards.

Nobody had more tackles (152) than Patrick Willis in '09, and the linebacker made the Pro Bowl for the second-straight year.