This year's team v. '94? Not yet. I am resisting saying "not hardly," but I don't want to be flippant. But I don't think the '94 team would have struggled with the Rams.

But to try to be objective, let's look at personnel. Defense first. A while back, someone wrote an article on which team had the better safety tandem. It's certainly close. I'm going to call that a wash. LBs, this team is better. But the corners? Not even close. Deion and Eric Davis are miles above Rogers/Culliver/Brown. The DL was better then, too. I love Justin. He is awesome. But I don't think he is better than BY, and then you have Stubby, Ricky Jackson, Dennis Brown, and Richard Dent rotating through. Not just the quality of the starters but the depth of the rotation was much better. If I were an opposing team, I would rather play this year's 49ers simply because the secondary in '94 was better. The stats are fairly similar. 2012: 17.1 ppg; 1994: 18.5. 38 sacks both years. TO differential: 2012: +9; 1994: +11. But the secondary back then? 23 ints (14 this year). We have a terrific D this year, but I think '94 was more complete.

The offense was a different story. I like Kap a lot. He's got a ton of potential. But he isn't SY yet. Let's check back in 3 years and see what he's done consistently. I'm not saying he won't. He's a real talent. But I can't put him in that league yet. But to the rest of the offense. Crabtree has had an excellent year and is really becoming a star. And I love Vernon Davis (I wish he were utilized more). But JR/John Taylor/Brent Jones were, imo, a more formidable threat than Crab/aging Moss/Vernon. Frank Gore is a better runner than Rickey Watters, but I think Ricky was a better receiver. And Bar None was certainly a better FB than Bruce Miller. The '94 OL gave up 35 sacks (31 SY, 4 Grbac); this year gave up 41 (24 Alex, 16 Kap, 1 Hunter). Both teams had mobile quarterbacks. But this year's offense averaged 24.8 ppg. That's good, but the '94 squad put up almost 32 points a game. They scored over 40 six times and 50 once. They scored less than 20 only 3 times, and in the 3rd one SY was pulled the last game of the season to rest him for the playoffs.

So I think this team is good. I really hope we can win it all. But the '94 team was a beast, very much the way the Patriots are this year on offense, except the '94 49ers had a defense to go with it.

But I'm really hoping we can do it this year, and I think that with a year's experience and a few more players, that dominant team we all want is not that far away.