Madden 22: Our 2021 NFL season sim results in some wild predictions

San Francisco 49ers

13-4, 1st place in the NFC West (No. 1 seed in NFC)

The NFC West is always a competitive division and probably one of the toughest in the league. In the Madden 22 sim, it was the 49ers who emerged as the pack leader, claiming not just first place of the NFC West but the No. 1 overall seed in the NFC playoffs.

This is one of the more interesting teams to follow in the NFL because of the quarterback battle between Jimmy Garoppolo and Trey Lance. Here’s the problem with the sim — while the 49ers will utilize Lance in special packages early on, Madden isn’t quite that smart. So for the sim, Garoppolo took all of the snaps, throwing for 4,527 yards, 37 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. Considering Garoppolo has only thrown for 27 touchdowns once in his career, I can’t imagine this sim being accurate at all.

Regardless of what anyone thinks of Garoppolo, it’s clear that Trey Lance is the future of the 49ers. You don’t spend the third pick in the NFL Draft on a quarterback if you don’t intend on them to be your future. It’s possible that Lance even supplants Garoppolo midseason.

But for the sim, it was all Jimmy G and a trio of talented receivers. Tight End George Kittle led the team in receptions (89) and yards (1,091). But the 49ers had two other receivers with 1,000-plus yards; Devin Funchess (66 rec., 1,065 yards, 68 TDs) and Deebo Samuel (72 rec., 1,103 yards, 10 TDs). Even Brandon Aiyuk improved on his rookie season with 81 receptions, 769 yards and 9 touchdowns.

On the defensive side of the ball, Nick Bosa led the team with 9.5 sacks while cornerback K’Waun Williams led the team with five interceptions. As a unit, the 49ers defense wasn’t amazing in the sim, and it’s likely they’ll perform better in real life.

I think the 49ers have a legitimate shot at the playoffs regardless of who is under center. But staking the No. 1 overall seed in the NFC seems like a longshot.