The 49ers this season have a real chance to get back to the playoffs after spending 2017 revamping their football operation. Let’s look at five reasons why.

1. A new attitude

A football team is lot like a group of people navigating a canoe through choppy waters. Each ore stroke has to be balanced and in unison. Otherwise it’s impossible to keep the boat straight. It’s a metaphor that applies directly to the NFL because there are so many personalities on each team that all have to be pulling in the same direction. Team unity can be more important than talent. The failings of Jim Harbaugh’s loaded roster in 2014 are proof.

(49ers coach Kyle Shanahan congratulates Jimmy Garoppolo – Robert Reiners/Getty Images)

The 49ers, at the moment, appear to be keeping the boat straight. It was evident during the five-game winning streak to end last season and carried through the offseason program. Word carried around the league about the new attitude in San Francisco after years of dysfunction starting late in the Harbaugh’s tenure and lasting through 2016.

“It’s John (Lynch) and it’s Kyle (Shanahan). They brought stability to this organization,” cornerback Richard Sherman said after signing in March. “They brought fun. They brought belief. They brought faith. The players believe they can win. The players believe in the staff.”

Sherman should have an idea of what a good locker room should feel like after spending his first seven years on a perennial contender in Seattle. The 49ers are hoping 2018 is Year 1 of replicating a similar run of success.