THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE, Aug. 31, 2014

I've heard experts say the Seattle Seahawks won't repeat as Super Bowl champions this season because, well, nobody repeats anymore.

As much as that would make fans of other contending teams happy, I don't think that's a good enough argument.

These Seahawks are still young, still hungry, still have most of their top players from last year's team that dismantled Denver in the Super Bowl (have you ever seen a championship game essentially decided after eight seconds?).

Not only do I think Seattle is the favorite to win it all again this year, but it's quite possible the Seahawks could run the table, finish 19-0 and keep the old Miami Dolphins' champagne on ice for the first time since their undefeated season in 1972.

Of course, that won't happen, because, well, nobody goes undefeated anymore.

Wait, what?

But it could happen this year. The Seahawks don't seem like a team that comes out flat - and they certainly won't come out flat at home, in front of those fans.

Road games at the Chiefs, 49ers, Eagles and Cardinals in the second half of the season could cause Seattle to slip up.

But, really, there are no super teams out there these days that they will have to go through. Everybody has to go through them.

New England will be in the conversation, as long as Brady and Belichick are around. Likewise the Packers, with Aaron Rodgers. The Saints, hopefully no longer the Bounty Hunters, are poised to rejoin the championship fray. The Rams and Cardinals, if they can stay out of their own way, could make life tough within the NFC West.

But two longtime NFL mainstays, the Giants and Steelers, have taken a few steps back.

The Giants keep losing key players without replacing them. The Steelers used to be known for luminaries like Franco Harris, Terry Bradshaw and the Steel Curtain.

Now, they've been reduced to Ben Roethlisberger and a running back combo of Cheech and Chong.

The 49ers, despite losing two key defensive players for the first half of the season, will still have something to say about things. The Broncos, last year's sexy pick, will have to prove they've recovered from being humiliated in the Meadowlands last February.

The things Seattle did to decimate the Broncos in the Super Bowl - offensive touchdowns, defensive TD's, special teams scores - the Seahawks have done in other games. They just didn't do them all in the same game.

Their offense didn't have to do much last year because their defense carried them. If they get it going on offense as well this season, look out.

As painful as it might be to say, these Seahawks are in position for a 1970s Steeler-esque type dynasty - four Super Bowl titles in six years.

BACK TO the 49ers - no reason to give up on them. Despite being shorthanded, they may still have the best chance of denying the Seahawks a repeat.

If not for an underthrown pass - on first down, no less - from deep in Seahawks' territory that got deflected by you-know-who and intercepted by Some Other Guy, we might be having a completely different discussion here.

But, alas, the Seahawks have Scoreboard, so as much as some would like you-know-who to come down with permanent laryngitis, he can yap all he wants as long as he backs it up. And, so far, he has.

Meanwhile, the 49ers had their issues in the first three games of the preseason, but as I am reminded by my 49ers insider ... it's the preseason.

Some teams and fans put a lot of stock into preseason results - where the outcome of most games are decided by players who eventually won't make the team - but the 49ers have never looked impressive in the preseason under Jim Harbaugh. They've looked pretty good at the end of each season under him, though.

Still, the 49ers need to clean some things up on the offensive line, show some improvement in the secondary, and find a way to put some heat on the quarterback without two of their best defensive players. And it would help if their own QB - the one on the cover of Sports Illustrated this week - would stop overthrowing wide-open receivers.

If not, get ready for another season of hearing about the L.O.B.

And it won't stand for Loud Obnoxious Buffoons.

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at mnelke@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter@CdAPressSports.