With five weeks of NFL action under their belts, the 49ers sit atop the NFC West standings with a 3-2 record after a 37-15 win over the Carolina Panthers on Sunday at Bank of America Stadium.
And while first place must feel pretty good, San Francisco’s dominance over its division rivals doesn’t end there, as evidenced by one vital statistic: point differential.
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Thanks largely in part to their stellar defense, the 49ers have outscored their 2022 opponents by 47 points this season, or 108-61. San Francisco is the only team in the division with a positive point differential this season and has yet to lose a divisional game.
The next closest team to the 49ers in terms of point differential is the Arizona Cardinals, who have scored 18 fewer points than the teams they’ve faced this season, followed by the Los Angeles Rams and Seattle Seahawks, at 24 and 27 fewer points, respectively.
The 49ers’ dominance is made all the more impressive by the fact that their offense has scored just 10 points twice this season. It’s a clear indicator of how devastating the team’s defense has been for opposing offenses -- and the stat also has received a boost thanks to two pick sixes on the season by the 49ers’ secondary.
After the 49ers were hit with a slew of injuries during their Week 5 win, maintaining such command over the division will prove difficult moving forward.
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But with a deep roster and “next man up” mentality, San Francisco certainly is up for the challenge with another game against the defending Super Bowl champion Rams just a few weeks away.
