San Francisco 49ers Tickets

The San Francisco 49ers were supposed to be one the surprise teams of 2008, but a troubling situation at quarterback and a suspect defense proved to be their undoing.

Eventually, it led to the firing of head coach Mike Nolan, who passed the reigns on to Mike Singletary.

Singletary's old-school attitude rubbed many the wrong way, but the team did play better toward the end of the season, earning him a new contract with the team.

Singletary ended the quarterback drama by benching Alex Smith and naming Shaun Hill as his starter. The team will likely try and draft a quarterback for the future in 2009.

Until then, Hill will be the guy. Singletary loves Hill's competitiveness and love of the game, so you can guarantee that he will stick by his quarterback.

The 49ers will take on the AFC South and NFC North in 2009. While the AFC South should be solid from top to bottom, the NFC North remains one of the worst divisions in football.

The 49ers will play the Detroit Lions and Philadelphia Eagles outside of their own division and two other divisional matchups, which isn't too bad of a break. The Eagles will be pretty good but the Lions should be absolutely dreadful again.

It should really help the 49ers to play in the NFC West, the worst division in football. Outside of the Arizona Cardinals, none of the teams is likely to finish with a winning record.

San Francisco finishes the year with St. Louis and Detroit, which could be a huge advantage if they somehow put themselves in the playoff hunt.