Yes, it's possible it might not take that long. Think of it as "up to" 9 weeks. While it can take that long, the IRS is giving itself a lot of slack, possibly to keep phone calls down. Returns have various situations with varying degrees of complexity, and are reviewed by different IRS personnel. There is no way to predict how long the review of any individual return will take.
There are some discussion threads in this forum with fellow users who have gone through or are currently going through the ID verification process and wait. Find one of those, and you can see their testimonies or ask them about their experiences.