The 49ers are one of two 5-0 teams remaining after Week 5 of the 2023 NFL season. For San Francisco the five wins to begin the year are impressive, but it’s how they’ve gone about manufacturing those victories that’s been particularly staggering.
They’ve posted 33.4 points per game, and they’ve allowed only 13.6 points per game. San Francisco has eclipsed the 30-point mark in all five contests, and the only team to cross the 20-point threshold on them was the Los Angeles Rams who had 23 in Week 2.
Buy 49ers TicketsWith five games down the 49ers are leading the NFL in point differential at a +99. Here’s what the top-five looks like:
1. 49ers, +99
2. Bills, +79
3. Cowboys, +51
4. Chiefs, +48
5. Dolphins, +46
A quick deep dive into San Francisco’s first and second half splits provides a really good illustration of how consistently dominant they’ve been. Here’s a redone version of the point differential leaderboard with the 49ers of the first half and 49ers of the second half included:
1. 49ers, +99
2. Bills, +79
3. Cowboys, +51
4. 49ers in the second half, +50
5. 49ers in the first half, +49
6. Chiefs +48
That’s a remarkable level of play for a team to keep up across five weeks. And they’ve reached those numbers without any hugely lopsided performance. It’s just been a consistent, methodical domination in every quarter and every half.
At some point these numbers are likely to come back down to Earth a little bit, but it’s hard to illustrate how good the 49ers’ first five games have been than via those point differential numbers.