NFC West Notebook―Special L.A. Confident(ial) Edition

A Sad State of Affairs in Santa Clara

I mean, let’s be fair—most people in the San Francisco/San Jose area were probably more excited about Apple announcing its new line of products than they were about watching a Brian Hoyer-led San Francisco 49ers team get the stuffing knocked out of them by the Carolina Panthers. And who can blame them, you know? There was so little excitement, so little fanfare going into this 49ers season. I mean, most of the news recently was generated by former 49ers quarterbacks. Alex Smith helped to bring about a swift and necessary end to that 19-0 Patriots bandwagon-y nonsense. And, of course, there is the continuing coverage of Colin Kaepernick, who for the first time since he started playing football wasn’t on a team at the start of the season.

Kaepernick would keep fans away, the GMs said. Well, looks like the 49ers were able to keep the fans away just fine all by themselves, without any help from a player who used his public platform to help start a conversation about race relations in the United States, knowing it might cost him his job.

And after that embarrassing image, the 49ers get to come up to Seattle this Sunday. At the moment, Vegas currently has San Francisco losing by at least two touchdowns, with a -15 spread to be overcome. While I may not be the best source for betting information, I’d stay far, far away from the 49ers this week. They’re traveling to CenturyLink, one of the most intimidating stadiums for visiting teams to play in, and facing an angry Seahawks team that wants to get its season back on track.

Prediction: Seattle Seahawks 31 – San Francisco 49ers 15

And I don’t see things getting any better in San Francisco anytime soon. After likely having their lunch handed to them by Seattle, they get to host the Los Angeles Rams, who I am sure would love to add a couple of Ws to their column in this renewed SoCal-NorCal rivalry.