49ers eager to prove doomsayers wrong

Recommended Video:

Even the schedule maker seems to have conspired against the 49ers in their what-else-can-go-wrong offseason: The team starving for good news begins the season with a bad opening stretch.

After Monday’s opener against the visiting Vikings, a trendy preseason playoff pick, the 49ers will meet five 2014 playoff teams in their next six games. That stretch begins Sunday when they travel 3,000 miles to Pittsburgh on a short week to meet the Steelers, who will have had nine days off since their opener.

The schedule poses a challenge for a team that needs to send a statement that widespread reports of its demise are exaggerated.

“This first month, for perception around the league, is really important,” ESPN analyst and former 49ers quarterback Steve Young said. “The way they come out Monday night is really going to be important: ‘We thought the 49ers weren’t going to be great. They look really good.’

“That’s vital the first month to send that signal to the rest of the league that ‘we’re not dead. We’re doing great. In fact, we’re thriving.’ It’s really important this early part of the season.”

Few expect the 49ers to thrive after an offseason dotted by losses via “mutual partings” (Jim Harbaugh); free agency (Frank Gore, Mike Iupati); retirements (Patrick Willis, Chris Borland, Justin Smith) and release (Aldon Smith).

On Feb. 2, the 49ers were given 20-1 odds to win Super Bowl 50, according to online sports book Bovada.com. Their current odds: 66-1.

The 49ers, of course, have heard the stream of negativity for months and consistently have countered that the cupboard isn’t bare. Because of the offseason losses, four players who were selected in the past three drafts will assume starting roles, a group that includes promising running back Carlos Hyde.

The 49ers signed a desperately needed deep threat, wide receiver Torrey Smith. The 49ers signed a desperately needed deep threat, wide receiver Torrey Smith. Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle Buy photo Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close 49ers eager to prove doomsayers wrong 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

In addition, the 49ers signed a desperately needed deep threat, wide receiver Torrey Smith, and running back Reggie Bush, who leads active running backs in career receptions. Finally, two defensive starters, inside linebacker NaVorro Bowman and defensive tackle Glenn Dorsey, return after missing 2014 because of injuries.

Smith and Bush are two of the four players on the roster who have won a Super Bowl. Bush isn’t predicting he’ll win another ring, but he offered, “Our first goal is to win the division — we’ll start from there.”

“There are just a lot of great players here,” Bush said. “So far throughout the OTAs, minicamps and training camp, all you’ve heard about in the media is people talking about what we’ve lost. Nobody’s talking about what’s still here. So I think a lot of the guys are hungry to go out and prove who we are, what we can still be.”

The quarterback remains the same. And the 49ers will need an uptick in performance from Colin Kaepernick to have a chance to prove the doomsayers wrong.

The 49ers hope a condensed playbook will help Kaepernick become a more comfortable pocket passer this season. However, it’s possible Kaepernick will be forced to repeatedly scramble behind an unsettled offensive line that includes right guard Jordan Devey, an undrafted free agent with four career starts who was acquired in a trade in mid-August.

The 49ers face an immediate test. The Vikings ranked ninth in the NFL in sacks (41) last year, led by defensive end Everson Griffen (12). Still, Young says Kaepernick must resist the urge to immediately flee the pocket.

He has to take a “fundamental break from his legs,” Young said. “I had to learn to tie my legs up and do the job, which is deliver the ball from the pocket. And I always had my legs, but they were the side dish. The main dish is my arm. And I think that for Colin, that’s what needs to happen. The main dish for him has to be — and it has to be in his own mentality — ‘My legs are just here in emergencies.’”

In his role at ESPN, Young will get an up-close look at Kaepernick on Monday night. Young also will be among at least five other 49ers who are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame who will be recognized before kickoff.

The 49ers will honor the past as their current players wear futuristic black uniforms with red numbers. The team also will hand out black T-shirts, and the end zones have been painted the same color.

To the doomsayers, black is an appropriate color, given the moribund state of the 49ers’ Super Bowl chances. To their players, however, it’s a fitting hue to mark a promising new chapter.

“We’ve got a great team,” Bush said. “We’ve got the guys here.”

Eric Branch is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: ebranch@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Eric_Branch

Monday night

doubleheader

Eagles at Falcons

Where: Atlanta

When: 4:10 p.m.

TV/Radio: ESPN/1050

Vikings at 49ers

Where: Levi’s Stadium

When: 7:20 p.m.

TV/Radio: Channel: 5 ESPN / 810, 107.7

Vikings at 49ers

7:20 p.m., Channel: 5 ESPN (810, 107.7)

Spotlight on: CBs Kenneth Acker and Keith Reaser. The 49ers haven’t revealed which will start opposite Tramaine Brock. Regardless, each probably will be tested frequently. Both are late-round 2014 draft picks who haven’t played a regular-season snap because of injuries that sidelined them last year. The 49ers probably will see plenty of RB Adrian Peterson, but expect offensive coordinator Norv Turner to see if speedy WRs Mike Wallace and Charles Johnson can elude an untested CB deep downfield.

Injury notes: Vikings — Minnesota listed four players as probable. 49ers — Brock (hamstring) is the only player on the 49ers’ injury report. He is probable and will play.

Big three …

In three games against the 49ers, Peterson has rushed for 174 yards and averaged 3 yards a carry. In the first meeting, in 2007, he had a career-low 3 yards on 14 carries. In the last meeting, in 2012, he had 86 yards on 25 carries, and LB NaVorro Bowman had 18 tackles.

In four career starts on “Monday Night Football,” QB Colin Kaepernick is 4-0 with 1,018 passing yards, nine touchdowns and no interceptions (125.8 QB rating). Three of Kaepernick’s top five career passer ratings, including his top two, have come on MNF.

TE Vernon Davis hasn’t had a TD since scoring two in the first 11 minutes of last year’s season opener at Dallas. Davis didn’t score in the season’s final 964 minutes.

— Eric Branch