49ers Continue To Make 'Break Out' Lists
By: Ninjames

Just a quick note here as I make some late-night preparations for my trip to the game later today. I was reading up on random NFL news and I came across yet another list of "teams to watch." The national media loves to do these kind of things. They'll give you players to watch, teams to watch, players to avoid watching, teams to bet on, teams that you shouldn't bet on, players to draft in your fantasy league and so on and so forth.
Last year, the 49ers were making a couple lists. Celebrity analysts tried to make a name for themselves by picking the 49ers on gameday and occasionally it would pay off, sometimes it didn't. The point is that it wasn't wide-spread acceptance. Now it appears to be.
ESPN, Sports Illustrated, NFL.com, Yahoo Sports and many, many more continue to pick the 49ers as the team to watch. The team that's most improved, the team that's dead-set on making the playoffs or go up in flames trying. The bar is being set for them, and with any luck they'll charge down-field and hurdle right over it into the endzone for a playoff berth and potentially more.
For what it's worth, the article that inspired me to write this is from NFL.com and it lists the 49ers as a team that has been steadily building for the past couple years that are now ready to compete. I'm inclined to agree. There's a lot of hype, let's hope it's not unfounded.