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 
I’m impressed, small school stars in the bigs.
What a lot of people seem to be missing is that Harbaugh actively wants out and is sealing his fate by fomenting a lot of uncertainty. I was completely certain that Singletary believed the force of his will and little else would propel his team to victory. Harbaugh isn’t that naive.
Berger one thing to keep in mind when bearing all at the Altar of the 9er Blogs –
We are all 9er fans with varying view points of the obvious mess this team is in.
It’s not about convincing others you’re right or, that we’re wrong.
Speaking for myself, I’m attempting to be objective, about the garbage we’re seeing on game days, both good and bad.
Kaep has a long way to go.
Watch how easily Aaron Rodgers moves the ball around with touch on any given play call.
That’s the kind of polish we all expect to see from Kaep at some point.
Right now he’s a dart thrower.
HE doesn’t lead receivers well, the majority of the time, HE over shoots many deep routes too, simply because he throws on a line too often.
Short routes are the throws I feel HE suffers the most with, simply because those are the throws HE needs to turn to when the pressure is on.
They’re check-downs for a reason, designed to save time and loss of yardage.
He needs work and, lots of it right now.
I agree that we need a better coach to facilitate that.
Be objective.
Criticism isn’t an automatic admission to the hanging posse as you would have it.
This is what started the dissent with the Alex Haters Club over on Skeebs’ site.
We’re all bemoaning different points of view about the same sad topic.
Anemic 9er Offensive output is killing all of us.
As the old adage goes, you don’t fire the players, you fire the Coaches when things aren’t working.
If it’s decided that Harbaugh can’t ramp it up another notch or, that Kaep isn’t getting all the instruction he needs, changes will ultimately occur.
No owner pays Millions for average results.
All some of us are saying is, Kaep has a job to learn too.
Maybe his lack of running is tied to the FAT Contract hanging around his neck now too?
He’s worth a LOT more to the franchise this year which could easily have expectations attached to his performance as a pocket passer.
We, as fans, don’t have a clue what goes on behind the scenes.
We are all relegated to spewing our opinions in places such as this.
Accept the various flavors of opinions.
It’s good for the soul.
I’m glad to see Bergs over here where his views have more support. He wants to venture back well good but there are fixed views over there and it must get tiring to argue. NF and Bullit are today posting links to national articles grumbling about Kap. (“It’s player execution”). Last month the same national outfits had their axes out for Harbaugh so national media having their agendas too. Yes we do have a lot of views on the state of the Niners. Difference is here @ Chuck’s there is a more rational discussion. Less agenda driven.
But it’s looser over here = more tolerance for various opinions. It’s calmed down with the departure of certain personalities too.
Big picture, yes it is player execution of low percentage plays and Kap played like shit trying to operate an O he is not yet equiped to operate. N F has it that it is easy to point blame at the coaching but it is even easer to point the finger at the player making poor plays unless one looks at the root cause. Kap is not a pocket passer yet, and may never be so stop fucking around and let the kid do what he is good at.
I think the coaching staff has reached its ceiling with Kap and the O. The only way either will improve is to get a new O regime in here. Likely new HC too as the OC + HC appear inseparable. I think the FO sees it this way too. Will be interesting to see how this gets played out w/ sharp guy Jimi holding leverage = one year additional on contract, etc. I’m sure the FO will be demanding the removal of GRo at a minimum.
Drama. Meanwhile the players have to scratching their heads. Wonder why D keeps playing well as can be expected??
Stay tuned!
“NF and Bullit are today posting links to national articles grumbling about Kap. (“It’s player execution”)” Sorry not Bullit. NF and another fellow.
Not NoFear49er either. If you’re going to stir shit up get your shit straight, asshole.
“Accept the various flavors of opinions.
It’s good for the soul.”
This is true. I also accept that some people are not worth trying to discuss anything with so I simply refuse to engage with them folks period. Nice to know who they are and just don’t go there. Slightly different take that works for me.
Well Chuck that’s one way to win a power struggle = “I have leverage, I’m leaving”. Or do you suppose he is trying to get fired? So he can collect for 2015? In that case all he has to do is for the team to lose out not win out! Novel…
So Jimi gets fired and is then free to go anywhere on his terms (again)?
I’m on record this is last season for Jimbo around here.
Not worried about Kap’s development, awaiting decent coaching before making that call. On other blogs (Cohn’s) many are assuming Kap should be traded! but I think that is foolish. Just signed him to huge contract, he has a bad season in a bad O so what team would blame him? The 9ers? No, FO is blaming OC and or Jimi. They want value for their investment under a good offensive coach.
He’s still got many tools to be developed in a good regime.
They won’t pull the plug on Kaep at this point Phil.
They’ll likely seek another tutor to see if his talents can be improved.
Be it another HC/System or, simply another OC.
Personally, I don’t think Harbaugh will separate himself from Roman.
We’ll see?
Pretty safe to say Baalke and Paraag wouldn’t have tied up that much Cap space if they weren’t comfortable with Kaep’s ceiling.
Right NJ and probably drafting a QB or two to push Kap and for insurance.
Don’t see the two- HC/OC- splitting either. Package deal. Question is what happens to Fangio?
Million Dollar question Phil.
Again, Fangio came in the same package with Harbaugh so, we’d have to assume it might be equally tough to separate them.
Plenty of speculation circulating now, Oakland makes the most sense if Mrs Jim wants to remain in the Bay Area.
NYJ makes sense too, as many in these parts want GM Idzik gone along with Rex.
Harbaugh could easily obtain more control with either Organization, as both are in total disarray.
For us, it’s all about getting compensated and, getting better.
Gase from Denver wouldn’t be a bad option I suppose since Denver’s Offense is under his control.
Not hard to look good behind Peyton though.
I just want a system that benefits Kaep’s development, something Baalke and Jed would seek as well.
Fangio is under contract, only way he leaves is if he gets a HC job or the FO allows it.
Who here still thinks Alex Smith could win you a Super Bowl?
I just had to wipe spittle off my keyboard for typing that preposterous inquiry.
“The Shredder” win you a SB? That is rich.
BTW, that’s another trademark that I’m adding to my repertoire.
I have already trademarked Bo Schembechler Jr.™. Now we can add Alex The Shredder™ Smith. First rule of comedy — never laugh at your own jokes. But I can’t help myself. Alex Smith is The Shredder™?
Raiders really died in St. Louis. They may as well lay down in Oakland for the Niners.
Hope so.
What? Absolutely not. If indeed it comes to fruition that Harbaugh is jettisoned after this year, the best thing for this franchise and the succeeding HC would be for the Niners to lose their remaining games and get the best draft pick possible.
This Mickey Mouse organization is a fucking laughingstock. Our owner is tweeting apologies to the fans. And the teenage daughter of our GM was caught tweeting disparaging remarks towards our OC.
That’s definitely not the building blocks upon which championship teams are formed.
What the fuck happened? Seriously. What the fuck happened?
I know one thing that happened. We hired The Devil himself, Jim Harbaugh to be our HC four years ago. All the regular season wins. Who gives a flying fuck. Jimbo’s done nothing but lose every big game when the chips were on the line.
Harbaugh’s nothing but a choke artist and a fucking asshole who doesn’t know how to run an offense. A former NFL QB himself, Harbaugh is still stuck in the mud when it comes to strategy and drafting QBs. Hence the Bo. Schembechler Jr.™ moniker I imparted upon him a few years ago.
Do you people seriously think Kap is going to progress into an elite NFL QB? Shit. All Kap has done has regressed these past few years. No one can tell me with a straight face that Kap is a better QB now than when he and Jimbo lost the SB damn near two years ago in the Superdome. I’d say, and the QB ratings would back me up, that Kap has gone south.
Some of you people who want to continually blame Roman as the chief culprit for our offensive struggles. Fine, go right ahead. I can’t stand the no good SOB myself. But in your heart of hearts you know where the true blame lies. You know goddamn well who is to blame why this team is utterly pathetic in the Red Zone and parts in between.
Harbaugh drafted a QB who ran the “pistol” offense in college. Now bloggers groan and grumble that we’re trying to make Kap into something that he’s not. “He’s not a pocket passer…” STOP right there. If you’re an NFL QB with intentions of becoming elite and you’re *not* a pocket passer?
Get the fuck out and get off my goddamn team. This isn’t college. Jesus H. Christ. This is just one of the many reason why I won’t be watching the NFL next season. I used to love this game. Now all it does is frustrate and piss me off.
I enjoy feeding my mallards 1000X more than I do watching and NFL game nowadays.
And watching all of the games that are coached by Jim Harbaugh and quarterbacked by Colin Kaepernick sure in the hell haven’t helped matters much.
I don’t even know where I’m going with this. My blueberry pie is just about done in the oven. That’s where I’m going next. Add a little whipped cream and ta-da! I’m there.
Merry Christmas
Why point at Roman? He is the OC, Harbaugh repeatedly says this is Romans offense, if those 2 things are not true then Roman is crazy to accept that and deserves what is coming to him since he gets the blame anyway so grow a pair.
You speculate Harbaugh is behind the scheme, could be, but he constantly says it’s Romans so until I know better it’s Romans.
Who will lay down more Raiders or Niners?
Better question.
Who’s still motivated to win?
No brainer I suppose…..
I’m sticking with the 9ers.
Yeah I’ve entered the cynical zone = my take is the players, many on O, have quit if not Jimi then his sidekick GRo.That means ‘quit the team’. So we will continue to stink until proven otherwise. Haven’t proven jack this year.
Looks like Jed/FO have set a target which is make the playoff….or else.
My guess
I don’t think the Niners have quit Phil. They need to find the winning formula ASAP.
For me, it’s a little of everything shared here, and elsewhere.
Go back to the SB.
Red Zone options and execution were an issue then, continue to be issues now.
New WRs, a young RB to compliment Gore.
We’re struggling with creative ways to get over the hump IMO.
As Gore and others have said, the talent is here.
If it’s not improving, there are plenty of reasons to infer but, it has to be taught, practiced and executed to be productive.
We all allowed latitude for Alex and the constantly revolving OCs when he was being developed.
Sometimes changes need to be made just to shake things up and refocus.
The ideal situation would be to build on the current foundation, not demolish it.
We’ll just have to see how they settle things between now and the off season.
Unfortunately, try as we may, we can’t change a thing, other than our POV.
At this point, I just don’t see our current Staff as being too well positioned to get things over the hump.
We seem to have hit the ceiling in terms of creativity, and implementation, while also being stifled by opposing DCOs.
Still time to find another rabbit in the hat I guess but, at this point I’m not convinced we have one.
That’s the rub. NJ. Well. there’s lots of rubs. Is Kappy’s regression this year tied to the coaches? The shitty line play? Injuries? Harbaugh’s need to get out? Poorly designed pass plays? Kappy is a mirage?
Since Kappy has played at a pretty high level his couple years in the league, is this it? Has he reached his ceiling? My guess is the team doesn’t think so, and they paid him for that.
\
What annoys me is you’d think that by changing the OC, the team may get a kick start. It worked for Jim’s brother anyway. It definitely can’t hurt. As we’ve seen this team just get worse and worse with each passing week. And don’t kid yourself. The Raiders won’t be the dogmeat they were today. This offense as currently constituted will struggle to score vs Oakland’s defense.
If the Niners lose in Oakland then a coach or two should walk the plank. Still that’s not Harbaugh’s style so everyone will go down with a sinking season.
It’s a cornucopia of festering feces Chuck.
Can I sum it up with “all of the above” ?
Not trying to straddle the fence on this either.
Kaep isn’t comfortable operating from the pocket.
Bad news, to an extent, if we ever have visions of him being included with the Montana’s of the game.
Since Steve Young found success, I hold out hope that Kaep can succeed as well.
Bigger question for me?
Can Jim teach him the position as many of us expected?
To be honest, I don’t see it at this point.
Is Kaep doing all that HE can do? How would we know?
As I posted above, it might be time to make a change simply to remove all the stench associated with the Harbaugh relationship within the building.
We aren’t scoring, we aren’t sharp in our assignments, everything just looks dysfunctional on Offense.
A change for the sake of change might be the only logical tactic to get this Offense refocused.
I’m with you and many others, it’s perplexing, especially for a team that has had so much success thus far.
Looks as if the wheels are coming off at this point.
I don’t like the body language being exhibited by Crabtree, Vernon, and Kaep at this point either.
It seems like there’s a frustration from within that they can’t find the answers.
For me, that suggests Coaching deficiencies.
Maybe, they can’t get Kaep where they think he needs to be?
Hard to know for sure.
Results suck. That much isn’t hard to understand.
We just can’t seem to find an answer for the passing game that works to Kaep’s strengths.
He needs to refine his arm and his touch.
Screen game isn’t there. Moving protections haven’t seemed to be an option either.
We just seem to stick with the basic plays, which aren’t fooling the better DCOs at this point.
No balance. No rhythm. Very little point production.
Too many weapons on this roster for that to continue IMO.
“It seems like there’s a frustration from within that they can’t find the answers.
For me, that suggests Coaching deficiencies.
Maybe, they can’t get Kaep where they think he needs to be?”
Yeah those rolling pockets are tough to figure out how to install
So many questions.
So few answers Phil.
It’s crunch time in 9er Land.
NJ bad news from Ohio State:
http://www.sacbee.com/sports/college/article4209829.html
One of their players unfortunately ended his life due to concussions (he texted before he died)
Bummer
Terrible news Phil.
Sad.
I don’t get it. Well our issues in Ninerland are small in comparison.
RIP football player
I do think the team rolls over the Raiders next Sunday but there’s a little situation up north I don’t see us being so successful.
Hope I’m wrong but really same OC it’s hard to think we’ll be any more effective.
Of the miners do win, it’ll be a struggle like all the rest. The part if this that really has. Me wondering is that haebaugh has caused a lot of this animosity by lying and being dickish about a lot of issues that surface.
Stupid autocorrect won’t let me type niners.
I’ve been a pro Harbaugh koolaide drinker up until Turkey day so have overlooked ‘lies’ by him. Lies, hmmm. The dickish I’ve been aware of but think the FO has a part in creating this mess = trading Harbaugh to Cleveland might put a dent in team confidence you think?
Seems it has gone too far to fix and he’s just daring them to fire him if I read this right. 2 losses this season to SEA ought to just about clinch it.
Harbaugh had a suspect offense at Stanford with Andrew Luck. Luck is the reason it looked halfway decent, not because of Harbaugh. Now He is having trouble in SF with his offense. This is not college where you can find some weak walk-on to pick on.
Harbaugh has had the best talent in the NFL the past 3 years and he is regressing. Yes there are injuries but that is not what I am talking about. I’m talking about an offense that looks out of whack way beyond the QBs fault. In reading Matt Barrows article it all makes sense. The article says the offense lacks one person being in control and it looks exactly like that is the case.
Changing coaches is risky but do we play ‘to win’ or ‘not to lose’. Many are fine with a bunch of regular season wins pointing to that as success, I am not going there if it doesn’t come with a title. Harbaugh was given great talent to work with and an open window for a championship. Many national experts have gone on record to say we have the best talent in the NFL. Harbaugh did not deliver. He has 4 more games to show his worth. Some of us have seen enough.
Those that are selling us on the coach and that the QB sucks have to remember that Harbaugh chose the QB and gave him a huge contract. So if one does not like the QB how can they legitimately sell us on the coach. Four more games is time enough to fix it or hit the highway.
Bergs I agree with the sentiment except I think Harbaugh should stay as long as his ego allows for a change of OC, the kind that will not allow the HC to meddle and is from this century scheme wise. The Niners clearly have the talent and IMO are misusing it badly.
Kap needs to improve his pocket passing game, we all agree with that, where I think the biggest issue is is that he is being force fed it and is not ready yet. Why not install it in increments? Why press it to the point that he can barely operate? Did Steve Young learn it in 2 years?
They have taken an energetic, wildly talented, gunslinger and turned him into a surly, gun shy, depressed looking kid. His body language and interviews wreak of a lack of confidence. Is this how to get the most out of the O?
Why the big rush to try to turn him into Manning? Kap was good enough to go to the biggest games, now there is doubt he can make it past the Raiders.
O football is all about confidence and as Steve Young said when standing on the sideline, the body language and sniping by the O players coming off the field clearly says something is fundamentally wrong. They don’t believe in this scheme.
It is beyond me why that is not crystal clear for all to see.
12th- Kap looks fine in most games. He has problems with Seattle. I think it is Harbaugh who really has problems with Seattle. Pete has his number and it affects the QB.
Kap can be a fine pocket passer. He needs a scheme with some rhythm and direction. People are falling all over themselves right now because he stunk it up vs Seattle. Every QB has an occasional bad game. I saw so many bad throws and missed receivers yesterday it was good it wasn’t Kap or some fans would have exploded. No QB sees every open receiver and no QB makes every perfect throw. If it is the QB it is the OC. If it is the OC it is the HC. Somebody needs to take control or more players are going to callout our dumb schemes. Kap will be fine.
Right now the coaches need to simplify, not for Kap but for every player on offense including Kap, and take control. When the prisoners are in control things are out of control. The body language has looked like the players are not completely sold on this offense. That is squarely n the coach.
I disagree Bergs. He is immensely talented, he can and does throw with touch although when flustered he slings it, he has all the throws available to him, he is obviously very athletic. He is not up to speed yet with reading D schemes and gets fooled too often and he has little feel for the pocket which results in running when he could check down, he also should throw the ball away more often instead of taking a sack. He makes young QB mistakes but who doesn’t?
I agree the mess of the O scheme is where most O problems lie. There is very little cohesion to this O, it looks mechanical. I believe Kap can become an elite QB with a different O scheme and OC, I don’t think the players, Kap included, believe this scheme is viable and they have 12 games of evidence to back that up.
I’m not sure what you disagree about because I agree with everything you just wrote. My point is that while so many are focusing on the QB the problem is much deeper than that, which I think we have covered at length.
Perhaps I took you too literally Bergs when you said he has problems with Seattle but is otherwise fine in most games. I think the kid will bounce back starting against the Raiders.
This explains a lot about the offense
http://www.sacbee.com/sports/nfl/san-francisco-49ers/article4199663.html
I wrote this exact thing 2 years ago Kevin, I also posted the link and we all discussed it over the weekend. I think most agree with the sentiment.
What in hell are they doing with 12 coaches on offense? get rid of all except 4-6 coaches.
Oddly enough the only person I can remember who agreed with me at the time was Flav.
I was one of the ones rallying to get Harbaugh. Even as I did that I was warning about the offense Harbaugh runs. I always felt Luck could have been so much more in college. I guess since his offense is better than Singletary’s I was OK with settling. In retrospect we might have been better keeping Sing and making him hire Martz back. I thought Sing was too Jumbo formation happy and Martz was too pass happy. Between the two they found a middle ground.
Golden State is a great extrapolation to our situation. Mark Jackson did a great job getting wins but he was not going to win a championship with his offensive schemes. When he was replaced many cried foul because of his excellent won/loss record. There is nothing to say the Warriors will win a championship under the new coach but it sure looks and feels a lot better than last year. The players are playing instinctively and winning games they often lost last year. Did Steve Kerr try to come in and run everything? No he got an offensive genius and a defensive genius and stepped out of the way. Kerr manages the flow of the game.
I saw a show with Billacheat and Jimmy Johnson about a year ago and they said that is what they do. They specifically said they can’t get caught up with the Xs and Os because they need to pay attention to the game. They said a HC is more about relationships. If they are correct then Roman should be in control of the offense. Either Harbaugh has different formula than those two or Roman does not know how to take control. Either way, sometimes to see the whole picture one has to stand back, take a breath and either continue on the same path or take a chance. I believe Jed is at that crossroad right now, the same one the owners of the Warriors were at about 6 months ago.