Week 10 burning questions: Is 49ers' Super Bowl window closed?

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Week 9 threw the NFL season on its head. The 49ers, Tom Brady, Arizona Cardinals and the 2020 rookie quarterback class goes under the microscope in the latest editions of hot takes.

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1/5

Well, that was unexpected.

Week 9 of the NFL season threw us more than a few curveballs. The Seattle Seahawks' improved defense? Not so much. Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as NFC favorites? The New Orleans Saints used a 38-3 beatdown to dispel that notion.

The Miami Dolphins are in the thick of the AFC race as Tua Tagovailoa announced himself by beating Kyler Murray in their much-anticipated duel. Meanwhile, the 49ers' C-team was pummeled by Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers, leaving some to wonder if we'll ever see the dominant 49ers of 2019 again.

Week 9 gave us more questions than answers. Let's see if we can answer a few of the biggest ones that are buzzing in the leadup to Week 10.

2/5

The Bucs got off to a sluggish start. They had numerous injuries, the offense still was jelling around Tom Brady and the defense was committing a ton of penalties.

Then, the Bucs seemed to put it all together. They rolled the Packers and throttled the Raiders. They were getting healthy and had one of the best defenses in the NFL. Most assumed the Bucs' nail-biting win over the New York Giants in Week 8 was about them looking ahead to the Saints and not a sign of broader issues.

But Sunday arrived, and the Bucs never stood a chance against Drew Brees and the Saints. New Orleans did whatever it wanted on offense, racking up 420 total yards and controlling the time of possession.

Offensively, the fully-operational Bucs were shut down by a fierce Saints defense. Brady went 22-for-38 for 209 yards and three interceptions, including one of the worst throws of his career. Ronald Jones rushed for only 9 yards and Mike Evans (four catches, 64 yards), Chris Godwin (three for 41), Antonio Brown (three for 31) and Rob Gronkowski (one for 2) were stymied by a stout Saints secondary.

The Bucs now are 0-2 against the Saints and weren't really competitive in either affair. The Saints pressured Brady all night and never let him get comfortable, and the fast Bucs defense that stymied Aaron Rodgers was helpless against a finally whole Saints offense.

It's dangerous to draw conclusions from one game. But it was one of the most embarrassing losses of Brady's career and showed a team that has exploitable issues. 

Not everyone can exploit the Bucs the way New Orleans did, but expect other teams to try to duplicate that formula as the playoffs near.

Verdict: Buy

3/5

The Cardinals have taken a significant leap in Year 2 of the Kyler Murray-Kliff Kingsbury era. Most expected them to be friskier this season, with some (myself included) even picking Murray to take home NFL MVP honors. But the Cardinals weren't expected to honestly contend for the most formidable division title in the NFL alongside the reigning NFC champion 49ers, Russell Wilson and the Seattle Seahawks and the Los Angeles Rams.

And yet, the Cardinals enter Week 10 in the thick of the race. The 49ers, ravaged by injuries, are an NFC West afterthought as they prepare to turn their attention to 2021. The Seahawks are in the process of wasting an MVP-caliber season from Wilson with a defense that can't stop anyone other than Jimmy Garoppolo and a non-existent run game. The Rams have defeated the entire NFC East and a fraudulent Bears team. The 49ers smoked them, the Bills roared out to a 25-point lead before almost choking it away and the Dolphins punked them last week.

The Cardinals had a chance to exit Week 9 tied for the best record in the NFC. A Zane Gonzalez missed field goal at the buzzer deprived the Cardinals of that as they fell to the Miami Dolphins 34-31.

That shouldn't dissuade anyone from seeing the Cardinals as the best team in the NFC West.

Wilson is the best player and very well might win MVP. But the Seahawks ask him to be perfect. He's asked to take risks he otherwise wouldn't because he knows once the other team gets the ball back they will go right down the field and score.

On Sunday, the Bills called passing plays on 32 of their 34 first-half offensive snaps. The Seahawks' secondary is a historic sieve and that will eventually cost them their season.

I have no feel for the Rams. They've played three good teams are 0-3. You have to beat the teams you're better than, but eventually, the Rams have to prove they are more than a middle of the road team.

Murray and the Cardinals should be seen as NFC West favorites until the Seahawks' defense gets off the field and the Rams beat any team with a pulse.

Verdict: Buy

4/5

After throwing for only 93 yards in his debut as an NFL starter, Tua Tagovailoa showed why the Dolphins gave him the reins to the office against the Cardinals. The Alabama product threw for 248 yards and two touchdowns while adding another 35 yards on the ground.

It was an impressive performance that shows the 2020 rookie quarterback class is on track -- admittedly it's early -- to be one of the most historic draft classes of all time, ranking up there with the 1983 and 2004 classes.

Justin Herbert continues to dazzle for the Los Angeles Chargers. Through seven games, he's thrown 17 touchdowns and only five interceptions and is averaging 306 passing yards per game. Herbert has done everything the Chargers have asked of him, but the Bolts find new ways to lose every week. The story of a cursed franchise.

Joe Burrow, likewise, has been stellar behind a porous offensive line in Cincinnati. Burrow has shown incredible grit and toughness during the Bengals' 2-5-1 start. He has covered in all but one game -- a shellacking by the Baltimore Ravens -- and has already found a favored connection with fellow rookie Tee Higgins. In eight games, he's thrown for 2,272 yards and 11 touchdowns and is completing 67 percent of his passes.

These three quarterbacks will be graded against each other for the remainder of history.

It's too early to predict who will have the best career. Burrow and Herbert have only started a handful of games and Tagovailoa has only been the starter for two. But if Tagovailoa's performance against the Cardinals was an indicator of future success, it's clear all three quarterbacks are legit NFL signal-callers.

Grading the most successful career will depend on the barometer you use. If you're talking titles, I will give Tagovailoa the inside track. Unlike Herbert and Burrow, he plays for a competent franchise with one of the best coaches in the NFL. The Dolphins are doing their rebuild the right way and have a boatload of draft picks coming to fill out their roster.

Herbert already is surrounded by one of the most talented rosters in the NFL and he's made the most of it everywhere but the win column. It's hard to overcome Anthony Lynn's coaching and whatever curse has been put on the Chargers' franchise.

It's hard for me to trust the Bengals to build properly around Burrow. The franchise has been in disarray for most of my life. Burrow is precisely the type of player who can change a culture and alter a franchise's direction. But that's a big ask for the Ohio kid.

All three appear destined for NFL stardom, but it's too early to predict who will finish their career on top.

Verdict: Selling

5/5

Ten months ago, there was talk of the 49ers' being the next great dynasty. Nine games into the 2020 NFL season and some now are wondering if the success of the 2019 team was as good as it's going to get.

My, how turntables ...

General manager John Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan have built a winning roster, with a few holes they need to address if the Revenge Tour is going to recommence in 2021.

First of all, the quarterback position is the elephant in the room. Jimmy Garoppolo can rack up wins as a starting quarterback if he is surrounded by a talented roster and an innovative offensive play-caller. But so can Jared Goff. Garoppolo was solid during last year's Super Bowl run, but it was clear Shanahan wasn't running the system he preferred to -- see 2016 Atlanta Falcons -- and the 49ers wanted Garoppolo to take a leap this season.

That's why they discussed bringing in Tom Brady (a whiff that looks bad even with Brady's clunker against the Saints). But they backed Garoppolo, believing his ceiling was that of a semi-elite quarterback and not just a game manager who you had to scheme to success.

It appears they were wrong.

Perhaps you can chalk Garoppolo's awful 2020 season up to the two high ankle sprains and call it a day. But the fact remains that the 49ers have a giant question mark at the most critical position in sports.

The days of winning with Trent Dilfer at quarterback are long gone. You need to look no further than Super Bowl LIV to see the importance of having a star at quarterback instead of a great roster surrounding an average one.

It makes all the difference.

This NFL era will be defined by the dynamic quarterbacks that headline. The days of statuesque quarterbacks like Tom Brady, Drew Brees and Ben Roethlisberger is ending.

The dual-threat quarterbacks -- not "running quarterbacks" but genuine duel threats -- will own the next decade of the NFL, and have their teams in the running for Super Bowls year-in and year-out.

Quarterback is the 49ers' most glaring issue, but it's not their only one.

The defense, when healthy, is legit. The 49ers will need to figure out the future of their secondary with Richard Sherman, K'Waun Williams, Emmanuel Moseley and Jason Verrett all set to hit free agency at the end of this season. They still have to find a way to replace DeForest Buckner. Rookie Javon Kinlaw may still become a star but it's clear he has a long way to go before he can truly be relied on.

The 49ers have a litany of offensive playmakers that would make a number of teams drool. But they have issues on the interior of their offensive line and right tackle Mike McGlinchey has been up-and-down in Year 3.

If the 49ers truly plan to rebound in 2021, they must answer their quarterback question first and foremost. But they'll have a long list of to-dos in order to climb back to the top and re-open a Super Bowl window that appeared years from shutting just 10 months ago.

Verdict: Sell, but the jury is still debating

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