You don't have to be a psychologist to diagnose Jed York with delusion.
After all, only someone truly out of his mind would predict that a winless team could come back to capture the division title. You'd have to be insane to truly believe that this is within the realm of possibility, right?
At face value, the San Francisco 49ers owner looks absolutely, clinically nuts. His team is 0-5, one of two winless teams left in the NFC and trapped in the league's basement with the hapless Buffalo Bills and Carolina Panthers. And yet, York has the gall to envisage a world in which the Niners somehow turn it around and win the NFC West?
In the words of Vizzini: Inconceivable!
This is a San Francisco team with a minus-10 turnover ratio, by far the worst in the league, and a starting quarterback in Alex Smith who has an NFL-worst nine interceptions. As a result, workhorse running back Frank Gore has just 3.5 yards per carry, placing him at 40th in the league. Statistically, the Niners are winless, hapless and, most importantly, hopeless.
A closer examination of the situation in the Golden Gate City actually reveals that York might not be totally expelling smoke out of his back exit. Despite the fact that under the current playoff format, no team has ever started the season 0-5 and reached the playoffs, the Niners actually have a legitimate shot at proving their seemingly senseless owner correct.
It seems impossible, but this is sports, where the improbable happens on a daily basis. It's a world in which, in a span of a few hours, Oakland can beat San Diego, the Titans can take down the Cowboys on the road and Arizona can stomp the defending Super Bowl champion Saints. Of course, all of these situations pale in comparison to turning a full season around — upsets happen every day, but it's rare to see a team go from nothing to everything in a matter of weeks.
But consider that San Francisco has five games left against NFC West opponents, three of which are at Candlestick Park, and things look a little brighter. Also consider that some of the Niners' remaining out-of-division contests include home dates with Oakland and Tampa Bay, as well as road games against Carolina and an across-the-pond stint with Denver in London.
Realistically, a 9-7 record will ensure a divisional title for San Francisco, which means that the 49ers have a serious about-face to perform in the upcoming weeks. But if a miraculous turnaround can happen in any division, it's the NFC West. It's the only division in football in which no team has scored above 100 points — in fact, no NFC West squad has above 90 — and all four teams have negative point differentials. Even Arizona, who leads the division at 3-2, has a minus-50 point differential.
In their first five losses, the Niners have dropped three by a total of seven points. New Orleans Saints kicker Garrett Hartley beat San Francisco on a last-second field goal in Week 2 that was partially blocked. Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Roddy White forced a fumble on an interception return in the fourth quarter to set up Matt Bryant's game-winner in Week 4. Had San Francisco not shot itself in the foot with five turnovers on Sunday, the 27-24 loss to the Eagles could have been in the bag.
By no means consider this to be my endorsement of the Niners to win the NFC West. Forecasting that would be foolish. In all likelihood, San Francisco will continue its historic collapse into mediocrity and Jed York will be made to look like a fool for these boisterous predictions. Fault York all you want for his methods, but it's difficult to slight an owner for trying to inject a little positive encouragement into a downtrodden team.
Maybe he's not as insane as we once thought.
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Alex Prewitt is a junior majoring in English and religion. He can be reached on his blog at http://livefrommudville.blogspot.com or followed on Twitter at @Alex_Prewitt.
