HAPPY BIRTHDAY RONNIE!!

Or, the George Thorogood school of thought. To paraphrase:

Everybody funny
Now, you funny.too

The media in general, and especially locally, seem to be making a case that the 49ers are all of a sudden a lousy team looking up at the rest of the division.  Funny thing is, as I’ve said before, 98% of these issues would have come to pass regardless of the martyrdom of St. Jim. Not going to rehash that, but just say that I think the offense improves. Why? Because it has never been very explosive these past 9 years, and has been on a downward spiral lately.

Yeah, we had injuries, but the defense suffered many more devastating injuries and was able to keep it together. The offense floundered terribly amidst missed blocks, bad line calls, and shitty play calling. Happy regressed as the directive seemed to be to take away one of his weapons in running when things broke down. By the 12th game, guys like Frank Gore, VD,  Crabs, and Joe Staley were openly questioning Roman and the offense being trotted out there.

Truth is, the 49ers lost halftime leads in something like 6 games. Defenses seemed to be able to figure out how to stop us at will while the 49ers couldn’t adjust to save their lives. Even some of the wins (Wash, NYG) were exercises in futility as the offense 3-and-outed itself to nowhere while the defense held on. The adjusting to defensive schemes was terrible.

Anyhow, that’s the past. With a new offensive scheme and some new ideas, I think these guys can introduce  some needed flexibility and speed into the offense. Steve Logan is a huge WCO proponent, and looks to get things moving much quicker than has has been these past 9 years. New WR coach Ron Curry, an offensive assistant the past 2 years, and a 7-year NFL vet who learned his trade under Freddie Biletnikoff, should be a vast improvement over John Morton. What also makes me laugh is when people point to Jed and Trent saying things like “we will get back to running the ball” in January as if they designed the offensive schemes before anything happened, and the coaches haven’t set foot in the building.

Still and all, the big question to me is Geep Chryst. Our new OC has a spotty career as an OC (in a shitty situation in SD), and varying degrees of success in various stops working with every offensive group on 5 different teams. Either he has learned a lot in his various stops, or he’s a bland lifer who won’t bring anything different or dynamic to the team.

The defense should be fine. I think Mangina-eous should be fine as the DC. The players certainly understand why things changed. Fangio bailed amid reports of him not getting the HC spot, or York balking on Fangio staying in his role if Adam Gase came in. Not sure about the veracity of that, but whatever. The coaching staff turned over, and the players will deal with it. Managing at least has a solid record of DCing what with his success under Brian Belichick in New England. His HC record is shitty at best, but certainly he brings a big presence on the defensive side of things. I said two years ago when they hired him to work with the TEs, that he was positioning himself for another HC run, either here or elsewhere. The defensives coaching staff is also full of ex-DCs and ex-HCs, notably Tony Sparano, Jason Tarver, and Clancy Pedergast AZ’s recent DC.

So, laugh as the hipsters and media trolls must at our goombah coach, power hungry GM, and the brash owner, I think this team stands to certainly do better than last year’s mark. Yeah, kind of a low bar, but to listen to the pundits, we’re on our way to 4-12. Let the techie-wonks sell their tickets, and run for the shade. Super Bowl? Probably not, what with all the roster turnover, but certainly a playoff run. And, as the San Francisco Giants have proven in recent years, once in the dance, the season resets. Get on a roll and you can take the trophy.