Huge loss. I might put the Cardinals in 2nd place behind Seattle now No Aldon No Bowman 3 NFC championship games, 1 SB appearance... and nothing to show for it
Didn't he only miss 3-4 games? The guy still put up 9 sacks I believe. It's a pretty big loss to the Niners, their secondary needs as much help as they can get from the pass rush.
5 games last year. Losing one of the best pass rushers in the league for around half a season is always going to be a big loss, but the 49ers are pretty well set up to handle the loss. The two OLB who replaced him last year (Skuta and Lemonier) did a good job and Lemonier was a rookie, who should be even better this year. They also have Aaron Lynch, who was an upside pick in this draft and he's been a monster in the preseason, though obviously against backups. But he gives them some more possible upside off the edge. The 49ers mostly need to weather the first 9 games of the season. The only games that they should be underdogs in, with Smith and Bowman out, among the first nine are against Denver and New Orleans (both on the road). If they can keep their losses to 2, they'll have a great chance in the second half with Smith and Bowman back. But if the 49ers start dropping "landmine" games to inconsistent teams like Dallas, Chicago or Philadelphia, the wheels could come off for them.
As I said earlier, haterz only hate their competitors. The C-awks are praying for Niners failure. Their "smart" fans know they have no chance otherwise.