It doesn't make sense for Napoli to deliberately lose a competition they still might win, to me it's just an absurd assumption. Napoli have experienced a very significant drop in form this season after winning the Scudetto last season, so they need to take advantage of every competition to win it instead of letting other teams beat them easily.
Yes, this is a realistic thing. It will be very difficult for Napoli to reach the top of Serie A this season and defend the title they won last season. Not only is their condition quite poor, but the distance between points is far away and the strength of the opposing team is actually getting better this season. The competition is very tough this season. And what's more, at the moment, I'm sure Mazzarri's focus is on improving the performance of his squad and trying not to fall into an even worse position. Because after all, Mazzarri also has quite a tough challenge here. At least if Napoli can still enter the UCL again next season, this will be enough for now.
It's true, it's impossible if we think Napoli can climb to the top of the standings moreover, currently Napoli are 14 points behind I have to say there is no way for Napoli to repeat the success like last season, Napoli's mission for this season is to get a place in the Champions League and now they have a new competitor there, Bologna. This week Napoli will face a tough match against AS Roma, as the away team it is certainly not easy to get points there and usually AS Roma is very difficult to beat when playing at home meaning Napoli need luck to get points for example, hoping that Lukaku will be absent lol.