Well, there you go. An offense that struggled against some bad teams was completely overmatched by Seattle. This season is pretty much lost , so I guess the Harbaugh watch starts tomorrow. Frankly, I’m pissed this offense has been pretty much a failure. I’m at the point where I don’t know if the coaching staff has fucked Kaepernick to the point of his indecision and not trusting himself, or if he just isn’t getting past his 1st read and just chucking away.
Beyond this game, Roman has been a failure throughout this season. Kaepernick hasn’t grown as a QB, and the new weapons we have were basically ignored after week 8. VD has been a disaster, Crabs has been fair to middling, and the run game has disappeared. Boldin has been the only consistent WR on the team, and the parade of backup TEs have done nothing. I heard Collinsworth say t0night that he saw Harbaugh start to take over the play calling in the middle of the 3rd quarter. How he knew that I don’t know, but if it took Jimbo this long to figure the play calling needs help, then I don;t know what he has been watching these past 10 weeks.
Where are we as a team? Well, the defense is beyond awesome. Despite killer injuries. The offense? I don;t know. Harbaugh may have resurrected Alex Smith’s career, but I think he’s breaking Colin Kaepernick.
Forty Niners Forever 
Good to see you Berger.
12th- I’m tired of sounding like a broken record over at the Coach Lovers Blog so I decided to stay away until the OC is gone. Hard for Skeebers and Bullit to be rational when they are still upset over Alex being gone and in a case of strange bedfellows they have picked up NoFear as a buddy. It’s pretty funny when you think about it. When Roman is gone our offense can be re-evaluated and I’ll join back in the conversation. For now, it is what we see and nothing else. They can’t even get a consistent running game going. I guess that is Kap’s fault too. I think your post said a lot yesterday.
Skeebs has a good blog. He kinda lost me when he wrote an obituary when the team changed from Smith to Kap. From then on there has been a bias against the QB from him and Bullit, not objective IMO.
NF also has a bias towards coaching IMO. To me it is obvious that O coaching has been sub par for all of Harbaugh and Romans tenure. The fact thay won so much on the back of D and ST masked many flaws but the NFL, as it always does, catches up and then coaching has to evolve, it just hasn’t done a good job of it. Use of personel is deplorable. Taking proven players and killing their carrers is something the O coaches have excelled at.
As for Alex “The Shredder”, that makes no sense either since teams only ever have to defend 20 yds of the field. He is limited and always has been.
I like Alex and think he is a good QB but Kap has been money so often, especially on road play-off games, how can one come unglued on him for one bad game. And yes he did have a bad game. I think some have extra high standards for players they don’t like.
As far as the coaching goes, I like Harbaugh a lot but if one followed him at Stanford they know he has had some problems calling plays. In the pros he has been exposed with the years of tendencies. Now he is running an offense he has never run before and having extra difficulties. I would like to see him hire an OC with proven experience running something other than the Singletary offense. Then step away from the play calling.
If possible I would like to see Chris Ault replace Roman for 4 games to show Harbaugh how to run the ball from the Pistol. Then pick a permanent replacement at OC after the season and get offense they are trying to presently implement rolling. I like what the coach is trying to do but his execution sucks.
When NoFear started missing Alex, I knew he had jumped the shark.
That was sure a change of saddles! Thing is he’s so biased toward any coach employed in the NFL it is hard to take him seriously.
12th- Pretty strange the tweet by Baalke’s daughter. You think some things have been said about the OC at the diner table? The Coach Lovers Blog can hang on to Roman being a genius but all indications show they won’t be hanging on to him for long. I can say for sure I’d rather have Kap than Roman, but I think I’ve already made that clear enough.
If you get a chance, watch WR Devin Funchess of Michigan. Tall, strong and a guy that can win a 50/50 ball. He just made one of those catches vs Ohio St.
A lot has been said about Jed’s tweet. I think it was well timed the right thing to say. It was time to publicly put the coaching staff on notice. If they don’t like it quit.
Funchess just reached out behind his route and down by his ankles to make another difficult catch look easy. We do not have receivers that do that. Crabtree dives for any throw that isn’t perfect.
Jed should have said one word, “NUTS!” Then fired the whole coaching staff. That would have made Mommy proud.
The German fans would have been perplexed!
Ault’s about 100 years old, but KC grabbed him when he retired from UNR when Reid took over, IIRC.mBullit laughed all the way to the dunce house when I suggested getting him last year.
Owners taking to Twitter is definitely a recent discovery. The only other owner who did that was Irsay and his drunken screeds. I’m sure there have been others.
Seems a little childish and reactionary, but in the end it is a shot across Harbaugh’s bow.
The whole problem with all this turmoil is Harbaugh seems to be the one driving it to the brink. None of what has been going on before and during the season is doing anything toward fixing anything in the relationship regarding Harbaugh and the front office.
Frankly, I loved Cassie Baalke’s comment. Very reminiscent of Eddie firing Trestman. I just hope the outcome is similar.
“He’s gone!”
You guys who pretend such distaste for bias while yours is on display with each post are not only biased but blind and hypocritical. Berger wants to close another blog down by limiting opinions to those aligned with his? Too late, Chuck’s pretty much got that handled.
I’ve criticized coaching, too. Play calling, sideline antics, clock management, etc. But I don’t lay it off on coaching when I see guys blowing assignments, getting beat on sloppy technique, lazy/bad tackling, throwing the ball into triple coverage while ignoring an open receiver five yards closer.
Some guys want to make it all coaching, no matter what they see, and never the problem of the guy making most of the mistakes. If that’s your personal take it doesn’t hurt me but it’s not mine.
I have a hard time blaming what I don’t see and ignoring what I do see. YMMV.
Kaepernick’s got all the tools, no doubt. Some folks have a hard time remembering that I wanted him to replace Alex before most, certainly anyone on this blog. But when he doesn’t progress in his development as fast as we’d like, some rush to say it’s coaching without ever knowing what his coaching is or how much effort is put into it from either side.
My comments about Alex have nothing to do with wanting Alex back or changing my mind about what sort of QB I’ve always known he was. They were about how bad Kaepernick plays at times. Pretty sure y’all knew that but some folks never want to miss a chance to play the dick.
Please continue your discussion about who we should bring in to start this team building thing anew and who you can tear down when they don’t do exactly what matches your current whims.
Yes, we will continue our discussion. The reason I’ve come to discuss it here is the hanging posse on the Alex Smith blog has made their decision so there is nothing to talk about until a change is made. Who’s fault is it that we can’t run the ball with 3 first round picks and a 2nd on the line?
Well NoFear, can you say for certainty that RGIII misses Shanahan? They may have hated each other but where has he gone without Shanny? No one knows for certain, but the proof to me is in the tentative nature of Kappy’s game now. He’s obviously being told to hold the ball longer and wait for the plays to develop. To me this leads to what we are seeing. More sacks, and less decisive runs.
What I think they should do is stress quicker plays. I’ve seen 150 plays where all our WRS are immediately covered off the line, and the WRs don’t do much to get open . This is a design problem. Kappy holds the ball and takes a sack. As he’s been told. The line isn’t blocking particularly well, so this leads to more of the same. THEY are telling him not to take off, so he tries to buy time while the WRs as far as I can see, stand around looking at him or just turn their backs and go deep. Which leads to poor decisions and forced throws.
The Niner WRs SOOOO many times simply run to coverage. ED said it last year after the 1st Carolina game. He’d never seen a group as a whole that spent so much time not getting open. I don’t see much different this year. Crabs called out the schemes, as did Staley. I think the coaching staff has effectively fucked his thought process out there. Seattle is adjusting their plays to RWs strengths, not making him adjust to their way of thinking.
“He’s obviously being told to hold the ball longer and wait for the plays to develop.” That’s not ‘obvious’ it’s merely an assumption you choose to hang your hat on, correct or not.
“…and the WRs don’t do much to get open . This is a design problem.” That assumption is a quite a leap considering those two things contradict each other.
“Kappy holds the ball and takes a sack. As he’s been told. This assumption is simply ridiculous.
“Crabs called out the schemes, as did Staley.” Which schemes? Our offensive schemes? No, they didn’t. References?
Try dealing with the facts. Here are some I posted the other day for starters:
Kaepernick has thrown most of his passes short, and by a large margin. the folks who keep saying we have no short routes and only run slow developing plays might be interested to know that of Kaepernick’s 324 passes (not thrown away/hit as thrown/batted or spiked) 173 of them were thrown to the short zones (0-9yds) and another 26 were thrown for minus yards.
He threw 69 passes to the 10-19 yard zones and has his best passer rating (156.5) throwing that range in the middle.
Only 56 passes went to the 20+ yards zones. About evenly divided among left, middle, right deep zones.
I think Chuck’s point is how many passes did not go 20+ yards because the design was deep and he was sacked. Personally, this topic means nothing to me but I believe you are obfuscating his point by using some numbers to say something else. Out of curiosity, what percentage of passes are thrown 20+ yards or more in the NFL? Kap’s 17% seems it would be one of the higher percentages.
Answer to your question Berger:
http://blogs.mercurynews.com/49ers/2014/11/29/long-shots-49ers-offense-hasnt-thrived-with-kaepernick-going-deep-more-than-any-other-qb/#more-17978
12th- The hanging posse won’t want to read that. I think Cam covered all points, like we are doing. No blinders, everybody has to take some blame. Since Harbaugh is the boss he has to fix it or don’t let the door hit your ass on the way out. I would put a capable OC in control of the offense and get out of his way. Harbaugh should concentrate more on the flow of the game.
Funny how NoFear just gives us the select info so he can sell us his bill of goods. That article was good at covering a lot and not being biased. Thanks.
They better at least beat the RAIDERS!
Or I’m going to throw down my Niners cap and stomp on it good.
Oh the party’s over here now? Can I join in?
Wise decision Berger to come over and find some breathing room. Still several dickheads to ignore tho…
Getting a new OC w/ Jimi staying is not in the cards. Roman goes then Jimi is gone too. A point was made elsewhere that even with a new OC this year the O is Harbaugh’s baby and will not change much no matter who is in uniform as OC. Sounds fair right?
Next year Harbaugh is not here w/o a playoff win or appearance. Jed’s tweet made that clear. My impression is JH will quit if GRo is forced out. Which is likely given the other tweet of the inside source Cassie Baalke.
Fine, coaching change upcoming. Because it’s “never” coaching as the boneheads insist. Ask Jed about that one. Harbaugh will be fine over in Oaktown. Hopefully he gets a new OC or some serious help with the Raiders O. And pray the Harbaugh Raiders don’t kick Niner ass ever.
So Niners get who for a new HC? DC Fangio going to stick around? Good HCs are not easy to find = gonna be a couple years for the Niners to overcome the shortcomings of the current regime
Harbaugh is a good HC making mistakes in his first gig as they all do.I hope he stays but no
Not if he continues with Roman and an O philosophy by commitee. Get a decent OC from this century, keep Fangio and the rest takes care of itself.
This team and the 3 before it have been near dead last in redzone, TD’s Passing officiency, third down conversions and first in FG and punting.
Lots of different players have come and gone over the 4 years yet those same statistics have remained. Nah its not scheme or coaching…
Yeah Phil, the party over there is being organized by a new hanging posse. Hard to have a rational conversation when they completely dismiss the coaching aspect of this situation.
Kap is not blameless but the coaching is just discombobulated and it has shown for a while now. Kap looks like he is on an island by himself sometimes while the rest of the offense is doing their own thing. That article by Barrows makes complete sense.
From Barrows:
http://www.sacbee.com/sports/nfl/san-francisco-49ers/article4199663.html
I wrote that 2 years ago.
A horse designed by commitee is a camel.
Yeah but damn good in a desert.
Wow! That article by Barrows explains a lot. Indeed, too many cooks do spoil the broth. It would explain the lack of rhythm. Unless the coach is special like Walsh I want the OC in control. Roman does not have control. We need somebody as OC who will come in and take control. Jim has to allow it. This not opinion, this is a fact of managing anything that is a small group, like eleven on offense. One person needs to be in control so all can be on the same page. I feel bad for Kap because many will blame him for the lack of direction above him. To me, he has been the one in control at times and he just isn’t experienced enough for that.
Your numbers are bullshit, NoFear. It doesn’t take into account broken plays, sacks, or throwaways. According to Barrows, Kappy IS throwing deep more than anyone. And like I said, IT ISN’T WORKING.
Is it really a big leap for you to think that since the Niners want Kappy to read the field more, he’d hold the ball longer? Seriously? You think scanning 2 and 3 WRs is faster than one? You believe your own narrative before the facts hit you in the chin.
WRs not getting open ISN’T a design problem? What is it then? I guess it’s an execution problem. Either way, if the WRs aren’t open, and Kappy has to wait, what happens? Well, I’ll tell you. Indecision. sacks, fumbles, mistakes. Jesus, you are comepletely out of it. Like your Staley 81 84 85 comment, whatever that was.
What’s funnier is when he says the players are not calling out the coaching schemes. I can’t imagine what he is selling himself. Anybody can hear Crabtree saying we were out schemed and know exactly what that means, unless you just don’t want to hear that criticism because it doesn’t fit the narrative being sold by a biased sales agent.
I’m glad I came over here. The whole picture is getting clearer. Hard to get this info from a hanging posse.
Yeah his story makes no sense but it never gets updated = broken record defending the tired narrative “Coaches (and I) know best- we’re never wrong. It’s ALWAYS you guys”. Whatever.
Berger regime change in 9er coaching will not change their minds one bit.
I’d say the target is painted on Jimi’s back being “Win out to playoffs or you’re done. BTW dump GRo or you’re done.”
Too late this year for any real changes. I’ll be shocked if Jimi is back “even if they win a SB”. Lol like that’s going to happen.
Silver and Black baby…
Just to be clear = I too want Jimi to continue as HC- just don’t think it will happen with the collapse on O this year and the regression of passing game, etc, etc. Also think Jim wants to work w/ GRo for whatever reason. Those 2 reasons make me think he is gone “unless we get on a roll” which I seriously doubt.
Team FO made big investments in Kap, WRs and we have regressed this year. = Failure.
Jed let this fester in silence instead of demanding cooperation between Jimi and Trent. He’s far from blameless and I will laugh long and loud if the next savior of Niners as HC does no better. If Jimi is successfully replaced that’s good. Jed sat on his ass and failed to support his HC to the point where some fans were saying he was trying to get rid of Harbaugh. In a passive-aggressive way maybe that is true.
Hope Baalke doesn’t have another “2012 Draft” in his selection of a new HC.
Phil it’s hard for an owner to force anything but a change in situations like this.
Harbaugh saw early success with a very well stacked roster.
It likely lead to his head swelling with what Baalke already constructed.
For me, this is nothing more than the square peg/round hole philosophy.
Harbaugh is a players Coach, no argument.
He is what that locker room needed after 7-8 years of futility.
An organized, highly motivated guy with a plan.
However, when you get to the threshold of success several times and can’t cash in, players could easily question your ability to master the moment.
Coming up flat, again, in a big game, like we did on Thursday night, is just another chapter in the continuing saga of not having an answer.
If Harbaugh and Roman have hit their collective ceiling of creativity, there’s nothing more for them to teach Kaep that will make a damn bit of difference IMO.
Holmgren was Joe’s QB Coach back in the day.
Another in a long line of Walsh disciples.
Andy Reid came from that tree as well.
I’d like to see what other options might be out there to continue Kaeps’ development as a pocket passer.
I honestly believe Kaep needs more work than these current Coaches can teach.