Inside Parity --11/20/01
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Steve Mariucci has a philosophy about the win/loss record - it’s along the lines of the following. Every team is an 8-8 team to start off. Throw in youth, injuries, the officials mistakes and you start to drop some of those wins. Add a great quarterback, a great playmaker, some luck and all of sudden you’ve got a playoff team. It’s amazing how such a basic philosophy can be so accurate.

The 49ers are currently sitting at 7-2, with a great quarterback, a heck of a playmaker in Terrell Owens a whole lot of luck and for the most part have remained injury free. It’s no wonder the team is now looking for it’s eighth win. Of course the trickiest part will be to fend off the bad for the rest of the season in order to become a playoff team.

And that’s what parity has done to the NFL. It no longer matters if you have the richest owner in the league, or if you don’t have the best quarterback. Anyone can win provided they have a largest combination of the ‘good’ in Mariucci’s philosophy. Perhaps that’s what makes the NFL now, so exciting - or should I say frustrating?

It gets harder and harder to predict winning teams on a weekly basis - let alone from year to year. Thus the 49ers are once again in position to recapture the NFC West Crown. While this may be a little premature, it’s good that there once again is hope 49ers Land.

It’s interesting to examine what makes a good team in the NFL these days. It’s much different than it has been in the past, when dynasties were the norm. Essentially it all comes down to Mariucci’s philosophy…amazing isn’t?

Talk about it in the 49ers Paradise Forum

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