The NFL schedules for 2010 just got released and there is already a lot of talk about who has the hardest and easiest road to the playoffs (based off of last years’ records of course) and with the 49ers getting the fifth easiest schedule in the league it seems more and more like the division is their’s to take. With that being said lets take a brief look at each game on the Niners’ schedule and see if we can’t take a gander at their end of the year record.

Week 1: At Seattle

Quest Field has been one of the hardest places to play in the league for the last few years, but in their last four appearances there the Niners are 2-2. That being said over the last few years Seattle has been on the decline and San Francisco has been on the rise and with that trend seeming to have continued this off-season I expect the Niners to take this one because I expect them to come out of the gate hard like they did last year and Seattle to still be adapting to their scheme changes.

Week 2: New Orleans At Home

I’m about as positive on the Niners as a logical person can be, but this is going to be a loss. It is not going to be fun for fans to watch their team go down in their home opener but I don’t see them beating the Super Bowl champs and the second best quarterback in the league. That being said this game will still be a good test for the Niners, for a team that is expecting to finally be in the playoffs again and had some close games with some of the better teams in the league last year (namely the Vikings game last year) and if we do as well this year hopefully the team can get energized from the idea that they can hang with anyone in the league. The count is 1-1 after three weeks.

Week 3: At Kansas City

When are a team expecting to make the playoffs and you are facing a team that had a top five pick in the draft you defiantly come into the game expecting a win. But this is a team that is looking to turn a corner this year and if they have a good draft they might have the pieces in place to do it considering they seem to have the right people at GM, head coach, and coordinators so looking past them would be a mistake but this game is very winnable, 2-1 through three.

Week 4: At Atlanta

The third road trip in the first four weeks of the season alone makes this game tough, but the fact that the Falcons humiliated the Niners last year and gave them their worst home loss in franchise history should give the red and gold a little more fuel for this game than most. If you aren’t a huge Niner fan it can be hard to comprehend how badly this team wants to repay the Falcons for last years stomping, but there is a good reason the game happened like that. The Falcons are a match up nightmare for the Niners. With a defensive and offensive shuffle however (don’t forget that game last year was before Alex Smith came in and helped the offense come along) as well as the Niner coaches knowing the Falcons much better now the Niners have a shot at this one, but I’m trying to be fairly critical here and will be giving the Niners the benefit of the doubt later so since this one is away I’ll call it a loss for now. 2-2 through four weeks.

Week 5: Philadelphia At Home

This game is going to be tough because, as we saw last year, the speed of the Eagles offense is hard for the Niners to deal with but I doubt their offense will be running as smoothly in Kevin Kolb’s 5^th start of the year (7^th career start) as it did when McNabb was back there last year. On top of that the Niners offense is going to be better, such a young unit will only get better by spending more time together and if Smith turns a corner and gets protection this group can be down right dangerous with Davis, Gore, and Crabtree. On top of that Kolb is less mobile and thanks to the addition of Travis LaBoy the Niner pass rush will be stronger this year, and they shouldn’t be dealing with depth issues this early in the season like they were when these two teams met late last season. Thanks to this being a home game I’m going to call it a “W.” 3-2 through five weeks.

Week 6: Oakland At Home

Oakland is in a mess and as of yet there really are no signs that things will change any time soon. Their starting quarterback might be Kyle Boller, they still have no offensive line, and they just got rid of their leading rusher over the last three seasons. Basically this is the type of team that the Niners should crush if they really want the rest of the league to look at them as a playoff team, just look at the Steelers last year, sure they had some good wins against good opponents (the Green Bay thriller comes to mind) but they still lost to the Raiders and that inconsistency is exactly why they didn’t make the playoffs and that is exactly the type of tendency the Niners need to avoid if they are going to end their playoff drought. 4-2 through six weeks.

Week 7: At Carolina

This game and the next are hard to predict, both the Panthers and the Broncos are in a state of flux and if Matt Moore and Kyle Orton can take the next step then these will both be tough games, but I don’t expect both of them to do so. Both of these teams last year showed they can hang with the big boys but that they can also slump and take a big old “L” from some pretty mediocre teams, that being said I expect the Niners to get out of this two game stretch 1-1 and since this is the road game I’ll give the Niners the loss here. 4-3 through seven weeks.

Week 8: Denver At Home

This team is very streaky and when they are hot they are tough to beat, but without Marshall and with their defensive coordinator gone I see the Broncos having to grind out more games this year than they did last year and I don’t think they can do that better than the Niners. Josh McDaniels offense will usually put up points but the Niners great run-stopping front seven and an improved pass-rush I don’t see Denver putting up more than 17 in this game and that might be generous, on the flip side a defense that struggled down the stretch last season, is getting older, and lost its coordinator (yes I know I said that before but that is how good of a job Nolan did last year and there is a very small chance they will repeat their performance with him gone) will have it’s hands full with a young fast paced offense that can spread the field. 5-3 through the first half of the season, and that was the tough part.

Week 9: Bye Week

This is a good time for a bye week, the roster will start to get a little worn out and the nicks and bruises of the season will start to catch up with them and their lack of depth so this will allow them to gear up for the second half of the season and their playoff push right before what should be a three game win streak (four if you count the Denver game) to start off the second half of the season against the Rams, Bucs, and Cardinals.

Week 10: St. Louis At Home

This game should be an easy one, but if Bradford starts to evoke memories of Matt Ryan in his rookie year (assuming he is the first pick) then this will be a game that the Niners can’t look past. However, with the team recharged and at home with the crowd getting excited about the fact that the team is on pace for a 10-6 season I expect the Niners to show a bunch of energy against their divisional opponent. Singletary knows that you have to take care of things in your division first and that is a big part of the reason the Niners went 5-1 against their division-mates last year so expect them to have a similar showing against the rest of the NFC West this year. 6-3 though ten weeks.

Week 11: Tampa Bay At Home

Again the Niners are gifted with getting on of the three worst teams in the league at home, and this one should go about how the last one went. The Bucs are a team that really can turn a corner this year though if Josh Freeman steps up big. They have a good offensive line, a good trio of running backs, and they have a good chance to solidify their defensive line in the draft this year so once again the team can’t look past them or they could suffer the same fate that Green Bay did in week nine last year when they got upset by the Bucs for their first win of the season. If the Niners can take care of business at home though they will be looking at 7-3 through week eleven and what I am sure will be a much greater deal of attention from the rest of the league.

Week 12: At Arizona

For the last three or so years 49er-Cardinals games have been close and hard fought and even with so many of the Cardinals’ star players leaving in free agency this year I expect that trend to continue thanks to coach Whisenhunt who will have his team prepared and make sure they give 100%. That being said though the Niners swept the Cardinals last year and with the Niners being on the up and up and the Cardinals going into a retooling year I expect the Niners to mimic their domination of the Cardinals from last year and sweep again, starting with a win in the desert in week twelve. 8-3 through week twelve and the Niners will have to start making room on their bandwagon.

Week 13: At Green Bay

Winning streaks are lovely but all good things must come to and end and this four game winning streak the Niners will be riding into Wisconsin will probably die there as well. This game will be in December so the Niners will be out of their comfort zone as far as the weather goes so they will be at a disadvantage from the get go, not to mention that Lambeau Field is one of the tougher places to go in and steal a win at any time of the year. On top of that the Packers are another young team, but one that is further along in their development and is expected to only get better behind the arm of one if (if not the) best young quarterback in the league. 8-4 through week thirteen and all of the analysts start wondering if the Niner hype was premature.

Week 14: Seattle At Home

Mike Singletary and the Niners will not be happy about ending their winning streak or failing to beat the first playoff caliber opponent they will have faced in over a month  and will look to get back on track by beating a divisional opponent at home. This would be the first time the Niners will have swept the Seahawks in a long time but there are a lot of changes going on with that team and they are clearly rebuilding so I could see the Niners taking advantage of the Hawks’ struggles while Pete Carroll finds the players he wants to run things the way he likes. 9-4 through week fourteen, this might even be the win the locks up the division and their first trip to the playoffs in almost a decade (eight years to be precise).

Week 15: At San Diego

As I said above I am about as optimistic a Niner fan as you will find, but even I don’t expect the Niners to go into San Diego and beat a great team known for their second half of the season surges with three games left in the season, plain and simple some things will seriously need to change for both teams before I start to think of this as a win for the Niners going into the game. However, this game will be another good benchmark for a young team looking to make their first playoff appearance as a unit. The Chargers are an elite team and there is almost no arguing that so putting up a strong fight here against and established team could say a lot about how the Niners will fare in the post-season. 9-5 through week fifteen.

Week 16: At St. Louis

The last chance the Niners will have this year to get a win against this division’s punching bag. However, Steve Spagnuolo makes sure his team plays hard and if they draft well and start to gel during the season this could become a tricky game for the Niners who have to take their show in the road this week. However with the playoffs in sight and knowing the kind of coach and person Singletary is I see this team firing on all cylinders in these last two games of the season making this the Niners first ten win season since 2002, 10-5 through week sixteen and officially locking up a playoffs spot with one week left to go.

Week 17: Arizona At Home

You don’t think Singletary knows the definition of the term “letting-up,” do you? I don’t think its in his vocabulary and I don’t think he will let it be any part of this team’s mentality this season and he will have this team rocking and rolling going into their last game of the season, at home, against a division rival, with their fans as excited as they have been in eight years. Sorry Arizona, but with Matt Leinart at the helm I don’t see them turning that kind of situation into a win, and with that the 49ers roll into the playoffs with an 11-5 record through the regular season. Are you excited yet? Cause I sure am.