[San Francisco 49ers News]

On the eve of training camp, this is an official notice: Count San Francisco among the Super Bowl contenders in the NFC. At the very least, this will be a playoff team. But in the NFC, just qualifying for the playoffs for the first time since 2002 shouldn’t be the goal in the West side of the Bay Area. The 49ers should think big.

After all, it’s the NFC. Seven different teams have represented the conference in the Super Bowl the past seven seasons. The team that dominated the NFL in the late 1980s and early 1990s could make it eight for the past eight seasons in the wide-open conference.

There is no dominant team in the NFC. The Bears will be strong, but there are no guarantees Rex Grossman could get out of the way enough for a second straight trip to the Super Bowl. The Saints look nice, but they have to prove last season wasn’t a karma-filled fluke. The Seahawks, one year removed from the NFC Super Bowl shuffle, will be strong, but San Francisco beat its NFC West foe twice last season.

Opinion: 49ers poised to make noise in NFC - NFL - MSNBC.com