Jimmy Garoppolo was asked this week about the 49ers swimming in a pool of high expectations heading into 2018. Naturally, Garoppolo did some deflecting and answered in platitudes, like any franchise quarterback would.

“I think we’ve got to have a strong finish to these OTAs first. People always like to talk about the predictions with the season,” he said. “It’s all noise on the outside, but I think we have a good group that is locked in right now. We’re focused on OTAs. We’ll go in to training camp, hopefully have a good training camp and take it day by day.”

Suffice to say, Garoppolo’s quote indicates he doesn’t care what media outlets like Sports Illustrated think about San Francisco’s chances at a return to contention. The 49ers haven’t sniffed the playoffs in five seasons, but are in the rare of position as a losing team with realistically high hopes heading into the summer.

Jonathan Jones of SI and The MMQB made predictions for all 32 teams this week and had the 49ers finishing with a robust 10-6 record, an inverse of their 6-10 mark to end Kyle Shanahan’s first year as coach in 2017.

No team that missed the playoffs last year should feel as good about its odds in 2018 as the 49ers. They went 5-0 with Jimmy G, with three wins against playoff-bound teams. They added Richard Sherman, Weston Richburg, Jerrick McKinnon and Mike McGlinchey after losing Carlos Hyde and Aaron Lynch. I’d say the 49ers got better there. A 10-win season would be San Francisco’s best since 2013, but I don’t see 10 wins (or even 11) getting you a playoff spot in this year’s NFC.

The 5-0 finish with Garoppolo at the helm last season has the 49ers being talked about like few 6-10 teams in recent memory. Perhaps its because Garoppolo was one of the league’s best quarterbacks during that stint (he’s 7-0 as a starter dating back to his time in New England) and the NFL is ripe with recent turnarounds.

The Eagles, after all, just won the Super Bowl after going 7-9 the year prior. The previously 3-13 Jaguars won 10 games last season and pushed the Patriots to the fourth quarter of the conference title game. San Francisco’s rivals to the South, the Rams, went 11-5 to win the division after going 4-12 the year prior.

Jones guesses that 10-6 won’t be enough for San Francisco to make the playoffs in a crowded NFC. Ten-win teams have missed the playoffs seven times in the last 10 years. It can happen, but it’s unlikely. It didn’t occur last season.

So new free agent and rookie additions tailormade for Shanahan have been brought in presumably to offer upgrades. It won’t take long to figure out how well those new faces Jones mentioned will fit. The 49ers have a tough game Week 1 against the Vikings – and Shanahan’s former pupil Kirk Cousins – which Jones highlighted as the team’s biggest game on the regular season slate.

Pivotal game: Week 1 at Minnesota Talk about a statement game to open the season. Garoppolo has five more games of tape on him, and the Vikings’ top-ranked defense have all preseason to prepare for the young quarterback and Kyle Shanahan’s offense. If the 49ers can strike an early blow to one of the league’s favorites, we may wind up seeing more than just 10 victories.

Winning in Minnesota would feel a lot like San Francisco’s victory over Aaron Rodgers and the Packers to start 2012. That was Jim Harbaugh’s second season – like Shanahan’s in 2018 – and that win in Green Bay kickstarted a run to the Super Bowl.

That’s not to say the 49ers should have Super Bowl aspirations. They still have a young roster in need of development and a defense that must improve against the pass to lighten the load off Garoppolo’s shoulders.

But Jones appears right. Now that the 49ers have a quarterback and coach tandem working in harmony, they should enter the new season with the confidence of a playoff contender.