It hasn't been the start the defending NFC champion 49ers had drawn up. Through five weeks, Kyle Shanahan's team sits at 2-3 after getting pasted by the Miami Dolphins in Week 5.
Over their next seven games, the 49ers will face the Los Angeles Rams (twice), the New England Patriots, the Seattle Seahawks, the Green Bay Packers, the New Orleans Saints and the Buffalo Bills. Those six teams have a combined record of 22-6.
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The poor start combined with the murderer's row of an upcoming schedule has many already thinking about 2021. But the 49ers are focusing on their Week 6 date with the Rams and what could be the start of a turnaround.
"As a young guy, you don't even really know if you're going to get a next season," linebacker Dre Greenlaw told NBC's Liam McHugh. "Me personally, I just take it game-by-game and day-by-day really because in this league you don't know how long you're going to be here, you don't know how things might change up next year. So for me, I'm focused on getting better every practice and getting better every game because we're still early in the season. Other people are looking down the line, but I think the team that we have -- I think we all believe each other, we all know what we're all capable of. We don't really let three losses define who we are as a team.
"We got great leaders on this team and they just constantly remind us that we can overturn this thing and make it a great story. That's kind of our focus. We don't really look forward in the schedule and see, 'Oh we got this team and we got this team.' Just next week we got the Rams and they are a good team and they are rolling in. We just love the game of football. We just want to play football and that's kind of how we work as a team and I think everybody has bought into that."
If the 49ers are to have any hope of a turnaround, it has to start this week against Jared Goff and the Rams.
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Sean McVay's team will arrive at Levi's Stadium at 4-1, but all four of their wins have come against the NFC East, which is a combined 4-15-1 early on in the season.
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Quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, who was benched at halftime of the 49ers' loss to the Dolphins, has to play better if the 49ers have any chance of beating the Rams. The 49ers' defense, which was the key to their Super Bowl run last year, is banged up and looks like a shell of its former self.
The 49ers will be without Nick Bosa, Richard Sherman, Solomon Thomas and Kwon Alexander on Sunday, but they could be getting cornerback Emmanuel Moseley back. That's a good sign after Ryan Fitzpatrick threw the ball all over the yard on the 49ers' patchwork secondary in Week 5.
But if the 49ers are going to get back to .500, Garoppolo and the offense will have to be firing on all cylinders to keep up with a Rams' attack that seems to have rediscovered its swagger after a down season last year.
The 49ers can't afford to drop to 2-4. Greenlaw and the 49ers might not be focused on the upcoming schedule, but the writing is on the wall. The next month-and-a-half will be treacherous.
The turnaround has to start Sunday against the Rams.