lackadaisical

lackadaisical

Over the weekend sam23 posted a FanShot about this Don Banks article predicting the 49ers will be one of six teams. It was also posted in a Golden Nugget, but I wanted to pull out what I thought was most intriguing about the article:

The 49ers finished the season at 5-2 in their last seven games under interim head coach Mike Singletary, and that's almost always going to earn you chic-pick, team-on-the-rise status heading into the following season. But there is something about Singletary's old-school approach that seems to be exactly what the lackadaisical 49ers have lacked in recent years. He doesn't seem to suffer fools or sloppiness too well, and those are two things that have not been in short supply in San Francisco for a while now.

What has me curious is the idea of a strong finish the season before leading to great things in the subsequent sason. In 2006, the 49ers finished the season 2-1 including what I thought was a very solid OT win to knock the Broncos out of the playoff hunt. Coming off a 7-9 season, the 49ers were the chic pick to get in the playoffs. Then they proceeded to fall flat on their face, finishing 5-11.

After a poor start lead to the firing of Mike Nolan, the 49ers finished 2008 with a 5-2 record and had some buzz under Coach Singletary. Granted some of the opponents weren't exactly awesome, but I still think you could say the team finished with some solid momentum. The 49ers obviously added some talent this offseason, but they'll be carrying forward with a lot of what finished 5-2.

The question then is whether you believe such momentum can be carried forward into the following season? Although I'm asking specifically about the 49ers, I'm curious what people think about this concept in the abstract as well. If a team finishes a season strong and doesn't have a ton of turnover, can momentum really carry over into the next season?

Personally, I'm not really sure. I think Mike Singletary brings the team something they lacked for much of last year. And that attitude could carry over into this season. But does that mean that some imaginary momentum has carried over with it?